Cameron thinks he’ll get rid of poverty by hiding it. He’ll think again soon enough
Typical Tory thinking: Treat the symptom, not the cause.
David Cameron seems to have noticed that people in poverty live on “sink” estates. Of course they do – such estates are defined as council housing characterised by high levels of economic and social deprivation. His solution: Bulldoze the estates and build nicer houses.
Except – of course – that won’t solve anything.
The new housing will cost money, meaning people can expect to be charged more to live in them. Will provision be made for the smaller accommodation required by people who have fallen foul of the Bedroom Tax, and will it make any improvement to their rent once the new costs are factored in? Doubtful.
All he is proposing is new estates for richer people, while the poorer are moved on – either to ghettoes elsewhere in the country or straight onto the streets.
And the causes of poverty – Cameron’s own neoliberal, right-wing policies – will remain.
Nearly a hundred of the UK’s worst sink estates could be bulldozed to make way for better homes as part of a “blitz” on poverty unveiled by David Cameron.
The prime minister pledged that “brutal high-rise towers” and “bleak” housing will be torn down in an effort to tackle drug abuse and gang culture.
Making a bid for the political centre ground the Tories believe has been abandoned by Jeremy Corbyn, Cameron said decades of neglect were behind the riots that swept England in 2011.
The £140m redevelopment programme is to be overseen by Michael Heseltine, who helped to transform the Liverpool and London docks in the 1980s. His estate regeneration advisory panel has been told to produce a full blueprint by the time of the chancellor’s autumn statement.
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Tweeted @melissacade68
Mike, non of this will ever happen. Remember the plan to allow landlords and investors to charge 80% of the market rate for rent on properties they built in order to “attract investment into social housing from the private sector”? This was supposed to have caused hundreds of thousands of units of social housing to have been built. Hardly any was. Cameron is bulls***ting once again. This is some crap spawned in the diseased brain of Lynton Crosby to make the Tories look less heartless. Trouble is it’s a fantasy promise that will never be honoured. You know it and I know it. This IS the Tory way.
Camerons attempt to improve housing for the poor is a joke. He is too tight to have any spending on public sector projects endorsed by his spending plans. truth be known he thinks the electorate are stupid and easy to fool with gesture politics. this type of politics lacks both substance and good intention.
Improving environment is needed but so is a caring government with integrity and honesty neither of which can be attributed to any tories.
One might wonder if Cameron had seen footage of the street beggars in certain “tiger economies” and concluded that Britain should have more street beggars to boost our economy.
All this will come to nothing,Cameron and his Bullington Club members,will continue to run down the welfare state,and public services.Poverty survives with help of austerity,and uncaring governance,to the poor and disabled.I dont know why Cameron wants to bulldoze sink estates down,as he calls them,because if he does,he wont know where all the poor people have gone.What an utter snake oil salesman.
Why do you say “all this will come to nothing”? Do you mean Cameron is just kite-flying, and the demolitions/rebuilding will not happen?