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Morning Briefing: Brokenshire slams Labour’s plan to replace council tax

Housing secretary James Brokenshire has hit back at plans outlined in a Labour report yesterday to abolish council tax and replace it with a progressive property tax.

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James Brokenshire
James Brokenshire
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Morning Briefing: Brokenshire slams Labour’s land plans #ukhousing

In the news

There has been a swell of reaction to Labour’s Land for the Many report, which it published yesterday, laying out what it called “radical but practical changes in the way land in the UK is used and governed” that it would implement if it wins the next general election.

The report also included calls to make all information about land ownership publicly available and the setting up of new Public Development Corporation, which should have the power to buy, sell and develop land in the public interest.

Mr Brokenshire claimed the move would add £400 a year to some household bills, the Daily Mail reports.

And The Telegraph’s Jill Kirby said Labour “has shown once again that it wants nothing less than the abolition of private property”.

However, a piece in CityMetric by New Economics Foundation fellow Beth Stratford said the proposals could “de-financialise” Britain’s housing market.

Mr Brokenshire’s comments come on the day that Kit Malthouse, his junior minister, revealed he would be leaving the race to become the next Tory leader.

Mr Malthouse, who is currently the housing minister, said it had become clear there is an “appetite for this contest to be over quickly”, according to the BBC.


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Morning Briefing: young people trapped in small towns due to high city rentsMorning Briefing: young people trapped in small towns due to high city rents

The Evening Standard is running a story on a Channel 5 documentary that aired yesterday, Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords, which found a three-bedroom house in Harrow occupied by more than 30 tenants.

Elsewhere in London, SW Londoner reports on a mother in Croydon who is setting up a renters’ union after being evicted twice in a year.

And Barking and Dagenham Council has given its regeneration company, Be First, planning permission for the 500-home next phase of the regeneration of the Gascoigne Estate, per Construction Enquirer.

In Portsmouth, The News reports that a pregnant woman in hotel temporary accommodation was told to leave because of high demand for rooms during D-Day week.

Meanwhile, Sandwell Council is set to approve spending of £1m to establish 55 tenancies over four years for Housing First to get rough sleepers off the streets, according to Birmingham Live.

And a charity boss in Nottingham has told Nottinghamshire Live that the city’s efforts to tackle homelessness are being “engulfed by a tide” of rough sleepers.

Finally, The Guardian is running an editorial examining the arguments for more new homes to be accessible for older and disabled people.

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What’s on

  • The National Housing Federation’s Affordable Home Ownership conference will take place in London today
  • MPs will hold a Westminster Hall debate at 2.30pm about Universal Credit and debt
  • The House of Lords will discuss this afternoon housing secretary James Brokenshire’s idea of letting people dip into their pensions to pay for deposits on their first home
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