English: I actually believe in rent control, and I don't own any houses apart from the one I live in. With a shortage of rental properties compared to demand, then without controls, rents will increase continually. With large-scale council house building pre-1979, the private rented sector declined. The private rented sector began to grow again after 1989 and is now the second-largest tenure in the UK after owner-occupation. Increases in the private sector rent levels and a focus on reducing housing benefit expenditure have led several commentators, and I agree with them, to call for the reintroduction of some form of private sector rent control. The Rent Act in 1965, introduced by the Labour Government led by Harold Wilson, regulated tenancies, with fair rents set by independent rent officers. That ended with the Local Government and Housing Act 1989, brought in by the Conservatives, and we mentioned 1989 earlier, as the date at which the increase in private rented accommodation started to go up. What are the benefits of rent control? Affordability, it prevents displacement, neighbourhood stability. The argument that is made - Janet Finch-Saunders made it, which I voted out before she even spoke - I expect is that it reduces availability of rented property for stock renovation and improvement. Firstly, the high rent of privately rented properties has driven out first-time buyers. But I'll just talk about the area I come from of Plasmarl in Swansea. Initially, it had large numbers of privately rented properties, but, as council houses became available, my family, like many others, moved to these new council houses, and the housing left behind was sold, and many people, via a mortgage, became owner-occupiers and then undertook improvement of those homes. Now, these properties are bought and made available for private rent. I must have missed the large-scale renovation of the cheaper privately rented properties in east Swansea. Alongside rent controls, we do need the large-scale building of social housing. In fact, I talk about that probably more often than people would like to hear it from me, but we need to build council houses at the rate we built them in the 1950s and 1960s. Rent control increases the availability of houses to be bought by people to live in, reduces the cost of rental, gives security on rental costs, removes the incentive to move one tenant out to bring one in paying a higher rent. I urge everyone to support this today. This is, effectively, a Labour policy; it's something that the Wilson Government brought it, which worked very well at rolling back the tide of fairness to poor and less well-off people, but the Tories in the 1980s got rid of it. We've got an opportunity to bring it back in now for the benefit of all the people renting in Wales. I urge everybody, especially my Labour colleagues, to support what is effectively a socialist solution.
Welsh: Rwy'n credu mewn rheolaethau rhent, ac nid wyf yn berchen ar unrhyw dai ar wahân i'r un rwy'n byw ynddo. Gyda phrinder eiddo rhent o gymharu â'r galw, heb reolaethau, bydd rhenti'n parhau i gynyddu. O ganlyniad i adeiladu tai cyngor ar raddfa fawr cyn 1979, dirywiodd y sector rhentu preifat. Dechreuodd y sector rhentu preifat dyfu eto ar ôl 1989 a dyma'r ddeiliadaeth fwyaf ond un yn y DU bellach, ar ôl perchen-feddiannaeth. Mae cynnydd lefelau rhent yn y sector preifat a ffocws ar leihau gwariant ar fudd-daliadau tai wedi arwain sawl sylwebydd, ac rwy'n cytuno â hwy, i alw am ailgyflwyno rhyw ffurf ar reolaethau rhent ar gyfer y sector preifat. Roedd Deddf Rhenti 1965, a gyflwynwyd gan y Llywodraeth Lafur dan arweiniad Harold Wilson, yn rheoleiddio tenantiaethau, gyda rhenti teg yn cael eu gosod gan swyddogion rhent annibynnol. Daeth hynny i ben gyda Deddf Llywodraeth Leol a Thai 1989, a gyflwynwyd gan y Ceidwadwyr, ac fe soniasom am 1989 yn gynharach, sef y dyddiad y dechreuodd y cynnydd mewn darpariaeth rhent preifat. Beth yw manteision rheolaethau rhent? Fforddiadwyedd, mae'n atal dadleoli, sefydlogrwydd cymdogaethau. Tybiaf mai'r dadl a wneir - gwnaeth Janet Finch-Saunders y ddadl honno, dadl a wrthodais cyn iddi siarad hyd yn oed - yw eu bod yn lleihau argaeledd eiddo ar rent ar gyfer adnewyddu a gwella stoc. Yn gyntaf, mae rhent uchel eiddo sy'n cael ei rentu'n breifat wedi cau prynwyr tro cyntaf allan. Ond hoffwn siarad am Blasmarl yn Abertawe, o lle rwy'n dod. I ddechrau, roedd yno niferoedd mawr o eiddo wedi'u rhentu'n breifat, ond wrth i dai cyngor ddod ar gael, symudodd fy nheulu, fel llawer o deuluoedd eraill, i'r tai cyngor newydd hyn, a gwerthwyd y tai a oedd ar ôl, a daeth llawer o bobl, drwy forgais, yn berchen-feddianwyr ac yna gwnaethant welliannau i'r cartrefi hynny. Bellach, mae'r eiddo hyn yn cael eu prynu ac ar gael i'w rhentu'n breifat. Mae'n rhaid fy mod wedi methu'r gwaith adnewyddu ar raddfa fawr i'r eiddo rhent preifat rhatach yn nwyrain Abertawe. Ochr yn ochr â rheolaethau rhent, mae angen inni adeiladu tai cymdeithasol ar raddfa fawr. A dweud y gwir, rwy'n sôn am hynny'n amlach nag yr hoffai pobl ei glywed gennyf, mwy na thebyg, ond mae angen inni adeiladu tai cyngor yr un mor gyflym ag y byddem yn eu hadeiladu yn y 1950au a'r 1960au. Mae rheolaethau rhent yn cynyddu argaeledd tai i'w prynu gan bobl i fyw ynddynt, yn lleihau costau rhentu, yn rhoi sicrwydd ynghylch costau rhentu, yn cael gwared ar y cymhelliant i symud un tenant allan er mwyn dod ag un i mewn i dalu rhent uwch. Rwy'n annog pawb i gefnogi hyn heddiw. Mae hwn, i bob pwrpas, yn bolisi Llafur; mae'n rhywbeth a gyflwynwyd gan Lywodraeth Wilson, a weithiodd yn dda iawn i sicrhau chwarae teg i bobl dlawd a llai cyfoethog, ond cafodd y Torïaid wared arno yn y 1980au. Mae gennym gyfle i'w ailgyflwyno yn awr er budd pawb sy'n rhentu yng Nghymru. Rwy'n annog pawb, yn enwedig fy nghyd-Aelodau Llafur, i gefnogi'r hyn sydd i bob pwrpas yn ateb sosialaidd.