Jules Birch
It’s a fairly safe bet that at any time since the 1970s, today’s figures showing that public borrowing is at record levels would have resulted in cuts in public spending.
That was then…
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But that was then - and it’s as though 30 years of economic orthodoxy have been overthrown in the last 30 days, or even hours.
Suddenly Keynes is back - with the government signalling that next month’s pre-budget report will bring forward significant spending on housing, hospitals and schools. And it’s not just Keynes. Influential voices on the left of the Labour Party are even calling for nationalisation of the house building industry.
According to the Financial Times, they include council housing champion Austin Mitchell and the man who turned down the chance to be housing minister, Jon Cruddas, as well as two former cabinet ministers, Frank Dobson and Peter Hain. It used to be just Frank Field who was allowed to think the unthinkable - now they’re all at it.
Ridiculous idea? Never happen? With their sales and share prices plummeting, house builders certainly need help - and so does the government’s target of 3 million new homes by 2020. Buying stakes in them might also represent good long-term value for the government when land values and house prices eventually recover.
Then consider two more points. It’s only a few short months since speculation was mounting that the banks (!) would force major house builders into insolvency because they were so heavily in debt. And if that isn’t ironic enough, two house builders, McCarthy and Stone and Crest Nicholson, are actually already in partial public ownership because they are ultimately owned by HBOS.
Meanwhile, preparations continue for the pre-budget report. One option, as called for by major housing associations last month, would be to bring forward the entire three-year new homes programme to this year. Another would be to give local authorities new freedoms to borrow and build - the ones that were taken away 30 years ago by that same economic orthodoxy.
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Readers' comments (1)
The Shalom Family Campaign for Social Justice | 24/10/2008 1:33 am
"And if that isn’t ironic enough, two house builders, McCarthy and Stone and Crest Nicholson, are actually already in partial public ownership because they are ultimately owned by HBOS.!
And if they (Gov UK) help HBOS, they are also helping Sir Tom Hunter and West Coast Capital who co-own Crest Nicholson, via Castle Bidco. So...........
Since the Government seem pretty keen on helping HBOS Bank (and in turn Crest Nicholson the housebuilders) we were wondering and hoping that they could stop turning a blind eye to what we consider to be corporate bullying and stop ignoring our Family who have been asking for direct intervention for years... and finally, PLEASE give us a jolly good hand too.
Crest Nicholson evicted us from our own, debt-free houseboat home and property of 14 years, (from penarth Marina in Cardiff Bay Wales on 28th October 2003) and in doing so, also destroyed a beautiful, chosen way of life for us and our five daughters; causing all our life time personal possessions to be seized, (even the pet goldfish).
Moderator permitting, please just Google ' CREST Houseboat Eviction ' for more details, or, please see our Family Appeal for help on the CRESTSHALOMFAMILY channel on You Tube.
Thanks Inside Housing
Kind regards,
The Shalom Family
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