Even Labour’s own supporters are saying it’s time for them to deliver some policies. I agree. And I’m not asking for the sort of thing that promises a VAT reduction on replacement windows. I’m asking for substance. Substance is a tough ask. The Guardian is interpreting it as relating to economics and of course it does, but only, I’d suggest […]
Posts under ‘Housing’
Has Labour freed itself from fear? It can’t be courageous if it doesn’t
Jan 15th, 2014 by Richard Murphy.
Miliband takes on corporate power again… and this time it’s house-builders
Dec 17th, 2013 by Michael Meacher.Ed Miliband’s speech today targeting the ‘big four’ developers – Barratt, Berkley, Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey – for hoarding land and not building the houses that Britain desperately needs is a textbook for political strategy as the election fast approaches. The shortage of housing, particularly affordable housing, has been a public scandal for years. Up […]
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Have the Tories taken leave of their senses?
Oct 3rd, 2013 by Michael Meacher.The Tories must be in panic mode. Cameron promises a land of opportunity after the election, but Osborne condemns the country to 12 years of austerity up to 2020 (and will even that date be shifted rightwards like so many previous forecasts of the end to austerity?). Osborne says he’s laying the foundations for sustainable […]
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Conference report: Housing and transport
Sep 26th, 2013 by Gaye Johnson.Before launching into a report of the Housing and Transport policy debates held on the morning of the 24th of September, two issues of Party democracy which arose before them should be mentioned. As usual the establishment Candidates swept the board in the Conference Arrangements Committee elections. The victors include Heidi Alexander and Tom Blenkinsop […]
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Bedroom tax: a hardline ideological punitive bludgeon just like the poll tax
Sep 20th, 2013 by Michael Meacher.What exactly is the point of the bedroom tax? Its ostensible purpose is to free up accommodation from those who don’t need it to those who do. Just about everything is wrong with that argument. If that were really the rationale, the obvious way to solve the problem would be to build more social housing […]
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Raquel Rolnik has hit the government on a sore point, and it really shows
Sep 13th, 2013 by Michael Meacher.I must start with a confession. I really don’t like Grant Shapps who for some reason is the Tory party chair. He comes across as a haughty up-market barrow boy who’d tread on his mother’s face if he thought it would advance his career or turn in a bigger profit. You know what I mean […]
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Bedroom tax at the high court
Jul 31st, 2013 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.I was very sorry to hear the legal challenge to the bedroom tax was thrown out of the High Court after just eight minutes. Sorry, but not at all surprised. And, if I’m honest, right from the start I’ve been of the opinion this action wouldn’t go anywhere. Natural justice and that administered by HM Courts and […]
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Even on the Bedroom Tax, the Labour leadership is scared of its own shadow
Jul 29th, 2013 by Ben Sellers.All over the country, people took to the streets last weekend to protest against the Bedroom Tax. Battling against a government policy which targets a vulnerable minority, facing down apathy — not so much towards the cause, but the idea that we can do anything about it — a genuine, grassroots alliance has emerged. The […]
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The illogical callousness of the bedroom tax is totted up in ruined family lives
Jul 10th, 2013 by Michael Meacher.The latest data from 107 local authorities shows that 86,000 households have now been forced out of their accommodation to look for 1-bedroom homes, but only 33,000 have become available in the past year. The pressure points vary regionally. In Rochford, Essex, for example, 100 social housing tenants were driven out by the benefit cuts, […]
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Bedroom Tax Bedroom Definition
May 3rd, 2013 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.The bedroom tax. An entirely punitive policy allegedly designed to shove “under-occupying” social housing tenants into size-appropriate properties when there is a massive shortage of one bedroom homes. Not that it matters to the Tories, of course. Very few people hammered by this policy are likely to place their cross against the blue party anyway […]
