The Tory Housing Bill is collapsing because it is built on dodgy foundations

Last Updated: April 19, 2016By
Image: Rui Vieira/PA Wire

Image: Rui Vieira/PA Wire

Here’s further evidence that the roof is falling in on the Conservative Government.

You can send them a message by voting Conservatives out of council and regional assembly seats, and out of positions as Police and Crime Commissioners, across the UK on May 5.

The Government’s “half-baked” housing reforms are being shot to pieces as ministers face more humiliation at the hands of the House of Lords.

And further misery could be inflicted on the Housing Bill – which includes plans to force better-off social housing tenants to “pay to stay”, ending lifelong tenancies and re-defining “affordable” housing – when peers continue to scrutinise the proposed legislation next week.

The unelected House of Lords has been a repeated thorn in the side of the Conservative government, inflicting upon it a series of defeats because of the Labour-Lib Dem “anti-Tory” majority in the upper house, including forcing a U-turn over tax credits cuts.

Climbdowns being forced on the Housing Bill this week include:

1. The Treasury has been blocked from keeping the proceeds of the forced sale of high-value council houses without parliamentary approval.

2. The Government will consider a proposal to ensure a one-for-one – and like-for-like – replacement of council homes sold under the forced sale.

3. The Government is to look at backing down on the forced sale of council homes in national parks and areas of national beauty.

4. Ministers have accepted a proposal to make it harder for landlords to evict vulnerable people that have abandoned their homes.

5.  A flagship scheme to hand well-off first-time buyers a taxpayer-funded 20% discount on a starter home has been moderated.

6. Another defeat means English councils can decide how many starter homes are built in their area.

7.  The Government has been forced to consider giving councils discretion to exclude building homes in rural areas.

The Housing Bill is still to making its way through the Lords, and peers are still to debate controversial policies including hiking rent for higher-earning social tenants, which is dubbed “pay to stay”.

Source: Tory Government’s Housing Bill Is Being Demolished In The House Of Lords

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3 Comments

  1. Dez April 19, 2016 at 9:05 am - Reply

    They never think anything through …. until the wheels drop off.

  2. mohandeer April 20, 2016 at 9:38 am - Reply

    So much for the Tory claim of fixing the roof while the sun shines. The Housing Bill has so many holes in it that favour the rich and the current treasury to repay what Osborne cannot do fairly, at the expense of the least well off, naturally, it’s about as much use as a chocolate fire guard.
    It has to be amended and made fair, not woefully inadequate and not fit for purpose.

  3. mrmarcpc April 21, 2016 at 3:17 pm - Reply

    That’s tory policy for you in a nutshell Dez!

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