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Balls slams Miliband 'soap opera': 8 in the morning: August 31st

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk * Writing for LabourList, Ed Balls attacked the "Miliband soap opera" and laid out his housing plans. * Polly Toynbee rails at "vain, venal has-beens", and their interbentions in the leadership contest... * Steve Richards says it's time to move on from New Labour. * David Miliband is said to be irked by Peter Mandelson's intervention in the leadership race. * The old guard meanwhile have hit back at Mandelson. * Mary Riddell says the...
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An alternative plan on housing

By Ed Balls MP / @edballsmp As Labour Party members prepare to decide our next leader, too many questions remain unanswered. The now daily episodes of the Miliband soap opera suit those who want to keep this a two-horse race, but do not do justice to the issues at stake in this election. It is wearily familiar of the general election campaign when serious questions went unasked or unanswered as the media obsession with personalities dominated all discussion. As we...
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Social housing: The story of Altgeld Gardens

The Labour movement column By Anthony Painter A balanced and thriving community for African American soldiers returning from WWII, Altgeld Gardens in Chicago prospered in the 1950s and 1960s. With a ready supply of jobs from the nearby steel mills and car manufacturing plants, and a mixture of working and middle class families, it provided a lively and aspirational environment for the families who lived there. Throughout the 1960s and subsequently things started to change- very much for the worse....
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A cruel, nasty and dangerous homes policy

By Jeremy Corbyn MP / @jeremycorbyn Last week Kensington and Chelsea Council jumped the gun and started phoning council tenants whom they deemed to be "under-occupying" and told them they would have to move or face homelessness. Quite clearly what they were doing was illegal, but they were only acting in response to statements made by the coalition government about tenants remaining in council property when their grown-up children have moved out and limiting the security of tenure of any...
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Tory thinking: A nudge for the rich and a kick in the gut for the poor

By Josh Fenton-Glynn Another day and more punitive talk from Cameron, this time beating up on benefit recipients. This is coupled with last weeks announcement that council house leases will change to be more regularly renewed so that people will have to justify their receipt of a council tenancy. Reading about both of these I couldn’t help but notice that the Conservative’s have abandoned one of their big ideas that they used to make them seem friendly and electable. This...
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No way to solve a housing crisis

By Robert Peaty Let's be honest. There is a housing crisis. 5 million people are on the waiting list for a council house. That’s one in 12 people in this country living in inadequate housing, which is frankly disgraceful. In an attempt to tackle this David Cameron has announced that after five years in a council house, the tenants’ right to stay in their house will be reviewed. A plan similar to this was rejected by Labour in 2008 and...
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Why time-limiting social tenancies won't aid mobility

By Mike Haw The comments made by David Cameron yesterday show a remarkable turnaround in Conservative housing policy. Before May’s general election, the Conservative leader accused Labour MPs of trying to ‘frighten’ voters about his party’s plans. And yet after less than 3 months in office, their concerns are ringing true. However, there are major flaws in the policy Cameron advocates, and it's unlikely to improve the mobility of social tenants. Firstly, the policy would only apply to new tenants,...
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The end of secure tenure?: 8 in the morning - August 4th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk * David Cameron suggests that the era of secure housing tenure is over. * The Mirror is calling the plans Cameron's "Home goal". * Job creation has slowed to a nine month low, * Theresa May warned Osborne that the budget could break equality laws. * Left Foot Forward takes a look at David Miliband's mansion tax plans. * Jonathan Freeland takes a look at the race to be Labour's mayoral candidate - and suggests...
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A call for a fairer cut

By Kathryn Rose The Conservative-Liberal coalition is planning to cut people’s housing benefit if people do not work – this is how part of the June 2010 budget is popularly being summarised and with some foundation. A more accurate report would state that the coalition government are not planning to instigate the 10% cuts to housing benefit for the unemployed immediately; they intend to wait until April 2013 when it is hoped that employment levels will be rising. This scheme...
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Oona sets out her pitch to Londoners

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk Today in Tribune Oona King has begun to lay out in greater detail her vision for the capital. As is perhaps to be expected, the pitch begins with what King sees as an advantage held over Livingstone - an appeal to outer London: "London runs from Uxbridge to Upminster - and it is these areas that a Labour candidate has to win back in 2012. After all there are 4.4 million people who live in...
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The accommodation availability gap

By Kathryn Rose During the four years I have been a student, it has been easy to find accommodation; in fact the choice has been impressively vast and there were frequently many bed spaces left over. However, without a job the vast array of flats on offer dwindles into a few that landlords say they might consider you for. Labour endeavored to increase the amount of homes available to people receiving DSS and tried to help young people find work...
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Progress Conference: Reconnecting with working class communities

by Rory Palmer Reconnecting with working class communities is seen as a vital part of Labour's post-election debate. That said, leadership contender Andy Burnham was right to suggest that it was not the case that we had not delivered for heartland communities. Opening this discussion at the Progress Conference Burnham reflected on the last 13 years as being the foundation for our political recovery and not something to be denied or disowned. Social housing was mentioned as a common doorstep...
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Cruddas talks to Prospect about housing, immigration, jobs

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982 In reconnecting with Labour's lost millions of voters - written about today by Liam Byrne and by John Denham - the Labour Party leadership discussion will need focus in part on the sense of disconnection from the traditional core vote, as well as looking at how the party will consolidate its strength in many inner city areas around the country. A new coalition will need to be built - something Anthony Painter has written about extensively....
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Healey signals Labour's moves to put council housing at the heart of radical fourth term agenda

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982 Housing minister John Healey has just announced a "far reaching and radical new deal" on housing, setting out plans to offer local authorities the freedom to fund and run their council stocks without central government subsidy. The deal will replace the current HRA subsidy arrangement, which currently funds 177 local authorities' housing. The plans also promise to release at least 10% more money in every council for maintaining and managing homes, and will create the...
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Darling announces stamp duty measures to help first time buyers

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Housing, immigration and jobs: The working class vote in Harlow

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David Cameron's pitch to Labour voters is worth studying - it may teach us something for our own campaigns

By Diana Smith / @MulberryBush I was alerted to the new David Cameron video "Never voted Tory before...?" via a Tweet by @David_Scameron, who said: "Check out my new blog cast pod. I've gone for the cool, no tie look and I borrowed an unkempt working class back garden." @David _Scameron is wrong of course. The back garden may or may not be working class, but it is certainly not unkempt. This is the garden of someone who is working hard...
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Healey says repossessions should always be a last resort

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982 UPDATE: Tim Montgomerie of ConHome has tweeted that "he tends to agree" with Jim Pickard at the FT, who wrote that John Healey "was right" to say what he did and that this was not a Lamont moment. Yesterday, Guido Fawkes and then ConservativeHome ran a story that John Healey, the Labour housing minister, said it "can be the best option" for people to have their homes reposessed. The story duly made its way to the BBC website,...
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40 Labour MPs call for a radical manifesto

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982 Organised by Michael Meacher's Coalition for Labour Victory, which LabourList reported on last November, over 40 Labour MPs have signed a statement calling for Labour’s election campaign to be based on a "radical redistributive programme", including public investment in housing, public services, de-carbonisation and requiring banks to pursue social objectives and support manufacturing. Michael Meacher said: “Labour can win if it is prepared to be radical. Policies aimed at jobs, homes and redistribution will resound...
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Building for the future - why Labour mustn't forget the construction industry

By Stephen Gummer This week it's official; Britain is out of recession. There are many in the Labour Party, myself included, that think this is largely attributable to the economic recovery package put in place by the Prime Minister and the Chancellor. Meeting recession with brutal cuts would have done very little to help anyone and while it may have been the easier path to take we can be very proud of a leadership that opted for the more complex...
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