Whatever Westminster talking heads might say, the most important event for Labour last year was not Jeremy Corbyn winning the leadership election but Labour losing the general election.
So now we must show voters that our priority is the challenges they face, rather than internal Labour party debates.
There is no more important target than the government’s housing bill.
It is an extraordinary and extreme piece of legislation. As the housing charity Shelter say, the bill is a disaster for affordable housing – the gravest set of changes in its 50-year history.
It is a bill that demonstrates beyond doubt that the government is washing its hands of the housing costs crisis in England. Labour has led the opposition in the House of Commons and will continue in the Lords, where this week we have seen increasing concern from peers of all parties and none.
The bill is a massive letdown for first-time buyers, with so-called ‘starter homes’ costing up to £450,000 completely out of reach for young people and families on ordinary incomes in the areas where help is most needed. Conservative members of parliament voted against Labour’s proposal to make these homes more affordable.
It is a bill that sounds the death knell for genuinely affordable housing – with the loss of 180,000 homes to rent and buy over the next five years. Conservative MPs voted against our proposals to safeguard these homes for local people.
It is a bill that does nothing for England’s 11m private renters. Astonishingly, Conservative MPs voted even against Labour’s amendment to the bill which would have meant that landlords had to meet basic standards in properties they let out, just to make them ‘fit for human habitation’.
It is a sign of just how extreme this legislation is when Labour is left defending rules put in place by Margaret Thatcher to give council tenants a right to a stable home. In just one of the 60 pages of last-minute changes made to the legislation, ministers plan to rip out the heart of social housing by replacing secure tenancies with fixed terms of two to five years.
On all fronts, this is an extreme bill which shows that on housing the Tories are abandoning the centre-ground of British politics, with proposals that may benefit a few, but only at the expense of the many.
If the flurry of housing policy announcements since the new year is any guide, Cameron knows that housing may yet become the defining social policy failure of his time as prime minister. People can see the failure over the last five years, know that the housing market is not working for them and their families, and increasingly will doubt that Tories are up to the job of fixing the problem.
Over the coming months, Labour will set out our plan for more good homes to rent and buy, to give hope to young people and families on ordinary incomes who have been failed by the Tories.
But, starting now, our first claim to the centre-ground of British politics will come from opposing this extreme housing bill.
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John Healey MP is shadow minister for housing and planning. He tweets @JohnHealey_MP
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On February the 19th 1993; The New Statesman & Society, published the following statement by Brian Gould, speaking as the Labour Member of Parliament for Dagenham, in which he said:
“Why not commit a Labour government to two simple targets – full employment and a decent home for all? And if the private banking sector persist in its failure to develop a system of industrial banking, why not use the power of the state to make good that deficiency by setting up a major publicly owned investment bank? And while we are about it, why shouldn’t a socially aware and economically responsible government create credit where appropriate in order to ensure that essential investment is made and at the same time strike a great blow for the democratic control of the economy?”
Following which, he was not allowed to remain in British politics – let alone the NEC. Brian Gould, in the words of one of his Labour colleagues (Austin Mitchell) – “is one of the only members of parliament, with a comprehensive understanding of money and a coherent, workable economic policy.” Unfortunately, Gordon (Incapability) Brown and Blair were foisted on Old Labour following their endorsement at the Bilderberg Conference at Baden Baden between June 6th –9th in 1991, following which, Labour abandoned Clause 4. Making it an electable Tory Party look alike – for the bankers – and in the process breaking the unions and getting through what Thatcher could not achieve for them”.
SOURCE “THE OTHER ROAD TO SERFDOM” by Arthur Swan and myself.
No government be it of the Left, Right or Centre can achieve any of its election promises to the British People – unless it breaks the borrowing strangle hold enshrined under the PSBR (Public Sector Borrowing Requirement). As Gladstone made clear saying that from being elected that he found himself “In office, but NOT in power”. Which forced him to open the Post Office Savings Bank so that he could have sums of money in six figures which were not under the control and direction of City of London Institutions, lamenting the fact that: “The Bank of England, from becoming the Banker’s Bank, has become the Government’s Government”. Leading Lord Acton, famous for observing that: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupt absolutely.” However, his less well known observation and call for action, which should now be heeded by people such as John Heeley and all other public servants is “The issue, which has swept down the centuries, and must be fought sooner or later, is THE PEOPLE VERSUS THE BANKS”. This will be included in the book I started writing with Tony Benn and plan to publish later this year entitled – THE BUCK $TART$ HERE
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