Why we need to work with the government

Boris Johnson has a majority of 80. Housing was all but ignored during the general election campaign and there was no reference to social housing in the Conservative manifesto. I suspect that any decision by individuals or housing organisations to refuse to work with this government will be met with an indifferent shrug of the shoulders and a dismissive “whatever” from those at the heart of government.

It will have as much effect as the call by Jeremy Corbyn who, in his new year’s message, urged Labour to lead “the resistance” to Boris Johnson’s government over the coming year, despite its crushing election defeat. “We are the resistance,” he announced. For those in Whitehall, they are irrelevant.

The government can do whatever it wants, definitely for the next four and possibly for the next nine years. It has all the votes it needs in parliament and Boris Johnson has surrounded himself with people who have ideas and who are willing to break a few plates along the way. Many of them are less ideologically driven that those who were around George Osborne.

“We need to change our tact if we hope to have any influence whatsoever”

On housing, we are unlikely to see a return to the active hostility towards housing associations that we experienced from Mr Osborne. We should not see a repeat of measures such as the enforced year-on-year 1% reduction in rents.

Extending the Right to Buy is a government commitment. However, “refusing to work with this government” will mean that its extension will be a certainty. By constructive engagement, there may be a chance, a small chance, that it might be halted, or at least limited.

I am reminded of the story told by the late Rabbi Blue on Thought for Today. A man found himself hanging from a tree root halfway down a cliff, with ragged rocks and an angry sea beneath him, miles away from anyone, with no hope of rescue. Even though he was of little faith, he prayed: “If there is anyone up there, please help me.” A voice came from the clouds: “Put your trust in me, let go of the root and I will catch you in the palm of my hand and carry you to safety.”

“There is no alternative government”

He looked down at the ragged rocks and the angry sea, and prayed again: “Is there anyone else up there?”

There is no alternative government. There is the most confident and powerful prime minister since the early days of Tony Blair. There is no one else up there.

Housing organisations, and those involved in housing campaigning, will only be as effective as they choose to be. By all means shout from the sidelines. It makes us all feel better but it will have little, if any, impact in the current political environment.

Each organisation and each campaigning group needs to decide how it wishes to position itself. At Brighton Housing Trust, where we have a long history of campaigning around issues such as welfare reform and cuts to legal aid, we need to change our tact if we hope to have any influence whatsoever.

There are issues that we promote which will be of interest to government, such as our approach to tackling addiction, ending (and not sustaining) rough sleeping, the prevention of homelessness, providing alternatives to stays in psychiatric hospitals, and in helping people into work. With our merger in April with Sussex Oakleaf, our combined expertise around mental health services will be an exemplar.

If we can get politicians (in this case Conservative members of Parliament) to see what we do in all these areas, they might be interested in what we have to say around other issues, such as welfare reform, legal aid and the Right to Buy. But if we do nothing other than shout from the sidelines, we won’t have much, if any, influence for the next five years at least.

Andy Winter, chief executive, Brighton Housing Trust