Berwick CLP calls on Labour to commit to large scale council house building programme

At its January meeting Berwick Labour Party overwhelmingly passed our resolution calling for Labour to commit to its 2019 council housing policies and to campaign for the current government to fund a large scale council house building programme. The resolution was passed by 26 votes for, with 1 against and 1 abstention.

“Berwick-upon-Tweed CLP is concerned at signals that the leadership of the Party may be
rowing back on our existing housing policy.
This CLP NOTES:
 That 2019 conference committed to build at least 100,000 council homes a year,
funded by £10 billion grant a year, as well as ending Right to Buy (RtB) and
reviewing council housing ‘debts’, is still the correct way forward
 Shadow Housing Minister Thangam Debbonaire has raised the possibility that
Labour might support 100% receipts for councils for Right to Buy sales, instead of
ending RTB.
 Keir Starmer’s speech at the 2020 virtual Party conference referred to “fixing the
housing crisis” only in terms of helping young people to become homeowners. He
did not mention council housing.

This CLP BELIEVES:
 The Labour Campaign for Council Housing is right that the UK housing crisis can
only begin to be resolved with a large scale council house building programme;
 Whilst the election defeat obviously meant we could not implement these policies
directly, we cannot wait until the next general election to tackle the housing crisis;
 The pandemic has shown the health consequences of poor and over-crowded
housing and the likely spike in evictions will make the shortage of council housing
even more acute.

This CLP RESOLVES to write to Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Thangam Debbonaire
calling on them to:
 Maintain the 2019 Party commitment to council housing;
 Campaign together with all those organisations that recognise the need for a large
scale council building programme, including the growing tenants movement;
 Endeavour to force a weak and shambolic government to make a U-turn on council
house funding.

CARRIED: 26 FOR, 1 AGAINST, 1 ABSTAINED on 19th January 2021