Barry intervened on a speech by former Housing Minister Rachel Maclean to correct her on the history of leasehold legislation in the UK.
Maclean claimed that Labour had failed to introduce leasehold legislation as they “bowed to pressure from the freeholder”, claiming that “we will never know why”.
Barry corrected her, pointing out that it was in fact the House of Lords at the time in the early 2000s, the filled with a majority of Conservatives, that blocked Labour’s leasehold reform. Barry also points out that at this time, 66% of Lords listed on the register of interests that they earned the “majority of their income from the management of land”.