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Boris Johnson hits out at Labour’s focus on social housing
Boris Johnson has hit out at Labour’s record on social housing, suggesting that the party had not aligned itself with the needs of ‘ordinary people’ by prioritising building state-owned homes.
In his speech to the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham today, Mr Johnson struck a markedly different note from Theresa May’s recent warm words towards the social housing sector.
He blamed “the failure of governments for the last 30 years” for the fact that younger people often struggled to own their own homes, pointing out that the UK has lower rates of owner-occupation than France or Germany.
But he also said that Labour’s policies “which centre on the building and control of state-owned housing” were “diametrically opposed to the interests of most families”.
He went on to explain that as a young journalist he had visited a family in Wolverhampton who were trapped in a mouldy council flat.
“I thought what a difference it would make to that family if they had been able to take back control – to coin a phrase. To buy that flat,” he said.
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He added that he had “lost count of the times” that people on the doorstep had told him that they would vote Conservative out of “sheer gratitude” that they had been able to buy their own home. The Right to Buy was introduced in the 1980s by then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher, and was revitalised in 2012 by the Conservative government under David Cameron.
“That is what people want – the pride of having a place they own,” Mr Johnson told delegates.
He went on: “And yet Labour hates that instinct. And Corbyn hates that instinct. Because although they live themselves in posh Islington townhouses, they would much rather that the electorate stayed in social rented accommodation, passed by hereditary right – as, incredibly, these state-owned dwellings are – from one generation to the next.”
He said that Labour like people in social housing because “they know that as soon as you get a mortgage, as soon as you have a stake in society, you are less likely to go on strike and you are more likely to vote Conservative. And if you stay in social rented accommodation you are more likely to vote Labour.”
He said that the Conservatives have delivered both more private homes for sale as well as affordable homes, pointing to his record as mayor of London when he claimed he built “more homes of all types than Ken Livingstone”, citing a decision to relax planning rules as the reason.
During Mr Johnson’s tenure at City Hall, many large housing associations shunned his grant programme due to the onerous terms and high rents he demanded, leaving him with a underspend of £400m.
This trend has reversed under new mayor Sadiq Khan, with housing associations and councils entering large bids for the programme, which now offers funding for new homes at social rent for the first time since 2010.
He said that the Conservatives should encourage more private builders, crack down on landbanking and allow councils to retain stamp duty and council tax in order to encourage more homes to be built.
Last week, shadow housing secretary John Healey promised Labour would be “the most radical government on housing” since the Second World War at the party’s conference in Manchester.
