You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Dispatches from the Labour Party conference
Labour’s annual party conference has wrapped up in Brighton after a turbulent five days. Below, Nathaniel Barker discusses the main takeaways for the housing sector
In many ways, Brighton’s seafront seemed the perfect backdrop for this year’s Labour Party conference.
The nearby pier with its bright lights and fairground rides were a worthy foil to the giddy ups and downs of the conference – from a tangy cocktail of confusion, anger and glee at the party’s shotgun vote against campaigning to remain in the EU, to the shock jubilation at the prime minister’s Supreme Court defeat.
It was an effect only heightened by the elements, which by turn greeted those venturing outside to pop to a nearby fringe event with both thundering rainstorms and benevolent sunshine.
These are turbulent times and the future is uncertain – but Inside Housing has rounded up the key takeaways for the housing sector.
READ MORE
‘It’s the election, stupid’
“To misquote Bill Clinton: it’s the election, stupid,” so said shadow housing secretary John Healey at a fringe event held shortly after the Supreme Court concluded that Boris Johnson’s prorogation of parliament was unlawful. “We are in an election campaign period now, make no mistake.”
Indeed, with Labour, the Scottish National Party and the Liberal Democrats all calling for Mr Johnson to resign and the government enjoying no working majority, a general election now seems imminent.
Expect policy-led speeches to start with gusto now. Speaking to Inside Housing, Mr Healey said that housing grant would “ramp up rapidly” under a Labour government.
Jeremy Corbyn’s speech – pushed forward to the Tuesday afternoon following the Supreme Court ruling – was relatively quiet on housing, but repeated 2017 promises to “stand up for tenants” and “start the largest council housebuilding programme in a generation”.
Labour already has a fairly well-established suite of policies on housing and it is often the party’s strong point in polls, so shadow ministers may be tempted to keep pushing existing lines rather than spend much more time at the drawing board.
Council housing now!
Inside Housing understands that behind Brexit and climate change, housing was comfortably the third most common area of motions submitted to the conference.
It’s no secret that the party’s grassroots are especially enthusiastic about ‘council’ housing. On more than one occasion, speakers and audience members at housing fringes made a distinction between council housing and the less favoured ‘social housing’. There is also a tangible loathing of the Right to Buy among Labour ranks – with the prospect of its abolition frequently eliciting spontaneous applause at fringe sessions.
As above, Mr Corbyn clearly has a soft spot for council housing but there were smacks of frustration at an event held by the Labour Campaign for Council Housing – backed by MP Matt Western – that the leadership isn’t more radical on this front.
On the conference’s final morning, delegates voted unanimously in favour of a bumper housing motion calling for Labour to “adopt a policy of building an average of 155,000 social rented homes a year, with at least 100,000 of these social rented council homes… to start with immediate effect when in government”. For context, last year councils delivered just 2,640 new homes.
It will be worth keeping an eye on exactly what Labour’s pledges are on ‘affordable’, social and council housebuilding as we head towards an election.
Housing association scepticism
Key to bear in mind about the Labour faithful’s passion for council housing is an associated distrust of housing associations. This is nothing new – complaints that the sector’s largest players are too commercial and not sufficiently accountable to their residents are historically fairly common in housing fringe sessions at the party conference.
It was something David Montague, Carol Matthews, Helen Evans, Mark Washer (pictured) and Rob Morritt – representing five of the country’s biggest housing associations – were clearly cognisant of when speaking at a packed fringe session on Monday. All five were careful to emphasise the importance of investing in their existing homes for safety, quality and environmental reasons as well as building new ones. Mr Washer, chief executive of Sovereign, acknowledged the “beginnings of a crisis of confidence” in housing association stock post Grenfell.
Nestled near the bottom of the extensive list of asks on the motion passed yesterday morning was a call for local authorities to be given “powers and resources to take housing associations under direct council control”. That doesn’t automatically make this a Labour commitment – the party’s National Policy Forum will have the final say on that – but it’s a telling indicator of the grassroots’ attitude.
What’s more, Inside Housing understands that at an event for councillors on Sunday evening, Mr Corbyn himself had strong words for the sector, calling out one large housing association in particular for being unaccountable and offering unsatisfactory solutions for his constituents from a distant head office. Mr Healey told us the party in office would want housing associations “to be much clearer and closer to the social purpose that many of them were originally founded [on]”.
Certainly something to think about as the sector mulls the prospect of a Labour government.
Universal Credit confusion
Labour’s position on Universal Credit performed an interesting sideshow at the conference. The party’s official position has for some time been to pause the roll-out of the new welfare system in order to introduce reforms.
But shortly before the conference, the Daily Mirror appeared to have been briefed that the party leadership was considering announcing its intention to scrap Universal Credit altogether and replace it with a different system. This was something that shadow chancellor John McDonnell seemed to confirm at a fringe event on Sunday, telling delegates that enabling people to have a decent quality of life “has to mean getting rid of the bloody Universal Credit”.
However, shadow work and pensions secretary Margaret Greenwood later appeared surprised when she was read back Mr McDonnell’s remarks, saying: “Current Labour policy is that we’ll stop the roll-out of Universal Credit. I didn’t actually hear John’s remark yesterday.”
In his speech to conference on Monday, Mr McDonnell promised to “end the barbaric roll-out of Universal Credit” – which is slightly ambiguous. Is it the roll out that’s “barbaric” or the system itself?
Rumours that Mr Corbyn might use his address to announce Labour’s intention to abolish Universal Credit proved untrue – though it’s possible this could be the result of a quick re-write following the Supreme Court judgement.
Amid all this, delegates voted overwhelmingly in favour of a motion calling on a future Labour government to “scrap Universal Credit” and replace it “with a progressive benefit system” – though, again, that doesn’t make it policy.
It seems Labour’s exact stance on Universal Credit will be yet another one to watch in the coming weeks.
Right to what?
In an interview with the Financial Times earlier this month, Mr McDonnell made headlines by floating the idea of giving private tenants the Right to Buy. It sparked anger from the National Landlords Association, which branded the idea as “ludicrous”. Others may be surprised to hear the party considering such a step, particularly as it intends to scrap the Right to Buy for social tenants.
But it seems this might not be a prospect worth getting too worked up about just yet. Two Labour sources played down the likelihood of this becoming party policy in the near future, implying it would be low down the priority list during and after an election.
Further, it’s understood that if it were to reach the surface, the Right to Buy for private tenants would likely look quite different to the traditional version. “It’s the sort of thing you have to say before an election – you have to give a nod towards homeownership,” said one source.
