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Mass rally to defend council housing |
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Written by Austin Mitchell
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09 February 2006 |
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Around 1400 people yesterday attended a mass lobby of Parliament calling for direct investment in council housing. Austin chaired the main platform in Central Hall Westminster, which featured speeches from councillors, tenants, union leaders and MPs. The speeches were opened with a surprise appearance from former MP and supporter of council housing Tony Benn.
Those attending the rally were surprised to hear the contents of a briefing prepared for Labour MPs by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, which claimed that the "fourth option" for council housing would require "additional public funds" and that the Labour conference "did not vote for the so-called ’4th Option’".
It was read out by a number of MPs, and later used by others to respond to tenants’ questions. Austin, who chairs the House of Commons Council Housing Group, said: "The ODPM has got so used to bamboozling tenants and councils, that it’s now trying to do the same with Parliament. This is a disgrace. The ODPM cannot rewrite facts."
The fourth option would be funded by stopping central government taking rent money away from councils and instead allowing it to be spent on building and repairing homes. On 29 September 2005 a motion was overwhelmingly passed at the Labour conference calling on the government "to provide the ’fourth option’ of direct investment to council housing as a matter of urgency."
"We desperately need more council housing," Austin said. "It is appalling that our efforts to set councils free to build are being met by a mixture of half truths, total incomprehension and downright untruths from people who should know better." |
