IDS facing defeat at the next election
New data released yesterday gives a ward by ward breakdown of the London election results.
One very interesting finding is that, if the proposed boundary changes go through, Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith faces an uphill battle to remain an MP.
The Boundary Commission is proposing a new ‘Chingford and Edmonton’ seat, bringing together six wards from Waltham Forest and three from Enfield.
In this month’s elections, Labour held an overwhelming lead over the Tories across this area – ahead by 46% to 30% on the London-wide list vote and 54% to 27% on the constituency list. Ken Livingstone led Boris Johnson more narrowly, by 45% to 42%.
These figures exclude postal votes, which would narrow Labour’s lead, but this is still a seat where Labour are stronger, and the Tories weaker, than the London average.
This will give Iain Duncan Smith, who has already been whining about the boundary changes, even more of an incentive to try and see the boundary changes amended or dropped entirely.
Alternatively, it would be no surprise if he decided to quit parliament at the next election, rather than waiting for the verdict of the voters on his hopeless performance as minister responsible for rising unemployment and poverty.
‘Homes for London’ campaign launched
Ahead of the London Mayoral elections, Shelter have launched an excellent new campaign called ‘Homes for London’.
This campaign is calling for the Mayor of London to give housing the same profile and leadership as Transport for London gives to transport issues.
Shelter’s research has found that with a chronic shortage of homes driving up prices, a typical deposit for a London home is now almost £85,000, with the median wage just £24,500. Average rents in London are already more than double the national average, at over £1,300 per month for a two bedroom property. As a result, two thirds (65%) of Londoners who don’t own their own home don’t think that they will ever be able to afford to buy in their area of London.
The campaign has four key policies, all of which Liberal Conspiracy strongly supports:
Homes that Londoners can afford
Homes for London should negotiate tirelessly with Government and investors to find the funding needed to deliver a minimum of 33,400 new homes in London each year.
HfL should deliver new homes that are affordable for Londoners – for sale, to rent or through shared ownership – and improve existing homes.
Family-friendly rental contracts
Families who rent deserve the stability and security in their homes that homeowners take for granted. And good landlords want reliable tenants to rent their properties for longer than a year or two.
Homes for London should broker a new deal between landlords and tenants who want to rent their homes for longer than a year, meaning families who rent in London can get the stability and security they need.
Rogue landlord prosecution team
Homes for London should have a dedicated rogue landlord prosecution team to identify and punish rogue landlords.
Working with the Metropolitan Police and London’s boroughs, Homes for London should lead the drive to improve conditions across London’s private rented sector. HfL should push for prosecutions and stiff sentences to ensure the minority of rogue landlords who make tenants’ lives a misery are subject to the full force of the law. And HfL should also protect tenants against landlord scams.
The HfL team should hunt out, name and shame rogue landlords across the capital to send a very clear message: there is no place in our city for landlords who abuse or endanger tenants.
London Lettings Service
Homes for London should set up a London Lettings Service to offer London’s private renters a single, trustworthy one-stop shop when they are looking to rent a home.
All homes available through the London Lettings Service should meet minimum standards. Tenants would know that their deposit will be protected and landlords would benefit from tenant referencing and rent guarantees.
As a non-profit social enterprise, the London Lettings Service would ensure that no tenant or landlord is hit with dubious, unfair or hidden fees or charges.
You can find out more about the campaign, and have your say about priorities to improve housing here
Exclusive Interview: William Beveridge backs #spartacusreport
Politicians of all parties say that the welfare state needs to get ‘Back to Beveridge’.
As MPs debate and vote on the government’s controversial plans for welfare reform, Liberal Conspiracy is proud to present an exclusive interview with the man himself.
Here’s Sir William Beveridge, explaining what is wrong with the government’s plans and what should be done instead. continue reading… »
Ed Miliband doesn’t need advice from newspaper columnists at all
The Daily Telegraph columnist Dan Hodges argues that Ed Miliband should listen to what Guardian columnist Jackie Ashley advises, and then do the opposite.
I profoundly disagree with this advice. Even for the purposes of learning what not to do, Ed Miliband has far better ways to spend his time than listening to Jackie Ashley.
But I’m not sure that Dan Hodges’ strategic advice is any better than Jackie Ashley’s. Indeed, it suffers from many of the same flaws.
continue reading… »
The case for spending less on ‘troubled families’
Earlier this week, David Cameron announced plans to spend hundreds of millions of pounds on ‘Troubled Family Trouble Shooters’, to try to turn around the lives of 120,000 families.
Right-wingers have criticised this initiative, saying the term ‘troubled families’ symbolises the neglect of the law-abiding majority, and that we should instead talk about (and punish) ‘problem families’. Labour’s critique is that spending cuts have removed many of these Family Intervention projects, and that this money won’t be enough to make up for the cuts.
But let’s start instead with a simple question. How and why are we spending £9 billion so badly on existing initiatives for these families?
continue reading… »
Four problems with ‘In the Black Labour’
I enjoyed the ‘In the Black Labour’ report, by some of Labour’s brightest and best bloggers and thinkers, which argues that Labour should adopt ‘fiscal conservatism’.
Here are a few thoughts in response, explaining why I am not convinced by the case which they make.
continue reading… »
Cameron’s latest Big Society blunder
The Prime Minister went to give evidence to a Committee of MPs yesterday about the Big Society. In response to questions, he claimed that:
“we are not sitting back and just hoping that the Big Society springs up. We have established what was called the Big Society Bank, which is now called Big Society Capital. It will get £200 million from the banks under the Merlin agreement.
That will be making grants to small voluntary bodies, so that they can scale up; they can be bigger and they can do more things.”
Sounds good, right? It is just a shame that, back in May, the government agreed that:
“The BSB[Big Society Bank] will not be a grant-making organisation. Funds deployed will therefore seek both financial and social returns.”
No wonder the Big Society isn’t working. Cameron thinks that one of the flagship policies of his government is that they’ve got hundreds of millions of pounds from the banks to give in grants to small voluntary organisations, so that they can build up the Big Society.
Instead, these small voluntary organisations are being offered loans, which will ‘seek a financial return’.
Meanwhile, government cuts mean that voluntary organisations are losing hundreds of millions of pounds in grants.
‘Tangled Up in Blue’: the creation and hype of Blue Labour
Books about politics tend to focus either on the deeds and misdeeds of politicians, or on political ideas.
It is rare to find writers either willing or able to combine the two, as Rowenna Davis does so well in ‘Tangled up in Blue’.
The book describes the political ideas behind ‘Blue Labour’, and does so with far more eloquence and clarity than any Blue Labour advocates have managed to date.
continue reading… »
Why Labour shouldn’t leave behind “the modern left”
Anthony Painter, writing on LabourList about the Occupy movements, argues that:
It’s time to leave behind the 1% who want to spend their Saturday afternoons in protest after protest, direct action after action, while the right continue to do their worst to our economy and society…
More than anything else the problem with the modern left is that we’ve become very presumptive about what the 99% want. We are very good at nominating ourselves as their moral spokespeople. We know what people really want even if they don’t yet themselves.
Here’s why I don’t think it’s time to leave behind this 1%.
continue reading… »
Why poverty is rising, and how this can be prevented
The shocking findings of IFS research about rising levels of poverty is a prediction about how things will get worse in the future. But it is not inevitable that poverty has to rise over the next decade.
The IFS found that rising poverty is a direct result of policy changes which are planned by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. There is an alternative, which is fully costed and which draws only on policies supported by these parties, which would mean that government policies do not lead to any rise in levels of poverty.
Here it is.
continue reading… »
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» Robin Hood tax: backed by the rich AND the rest, says new poll
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» Adrian Beecroft highlights mindset of Tory right
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» The IMF plan to revive the economy doesn’t go far enough
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