EU and UK politics [OT]

[LurkerJ]

RolStoppable said:

LurkerJ said:

Angela Rayner 'turns back on Britons' as she axes plans to prioritise UK citizens over migrants on council house waiting lists

The previous Tory Government had proposed reforms which would have barred recent arrivals from applying for council homes - which Labour's new Housing Secretary has now formally shelved.

Michael Gove's proposals had included a "UK connection test", which would have meant only people who had lived in the country for 10 years or more were eligible to join the 1.3million-household-long queue for council properties.

Rayner immediately came under fire for the move, not least by Reform's Lee Anderson, who said it prioritised people "who have just arrived in our country".

Anderson said: "If you were born in this country, worked hard, paid your taxes and obeyed our laws, then not only will Labour steal your winter fuel payment - but they will also put your family at the bottom of the housing list in favour of people who have just arrived in our country. Why?"

And former Conservative minister Dame Andrea Jenkyns joined in the criticism, saying: "This is so wrong, I had a lot of former constituents waiting for years to get a house."

Amid the axing of Tory plans, the Labour Government is set to fast-track some 90,000 asylum applications from illegal migrants who had been facing deportation to Rwanda.

Two-thirds of migrants are expected to be granted the right to remain, which would enable them to qualify to apply for social housing.

Though, as a Housing Ministry spokesman highlighted, most councils already use "local connection tests" on their waiting lists.

The spokesman said: "The vast majority of councils have already adopted local connection tests, and 90 per cent of social homes go to UK nationals.

"Those who do not have a right to stay in the UK are already not eligible for social housing."

But Dr Mike Jones, executive director of Migration Watch UK, slated the Government's move, saying: "Labour isn't putting the 'national interest' first - they're putting non-citizens ahead of British people."

https://www.gbnews.com/politics/angela-rayner-migrants-council-house-waiting-lists

More of the "we can do this" BS, common sense be damned. 

Reads like a right wing hit piece that slipped in three lines - highlighted in bold - to cover their butts.

Once you ignore the far-right quotes in the article and focus on the facts, all it says is that migrants can apply for housing and will be put on the waiting list, but the vast majority of councils opt to give homes to people who are either lifelong UK citizens or have been in the country for 10+ years.

It does read like a hit piece because it is GB news.

You don't have to be a lifelong citizen to be eligible for social housing, about 50% of social houses in London, for example, go to non-UK born. You don't have to spend 10 years to tick the local connection test either, living 6 months in the area is enough connection. 10% going to non UK nationals is a lot, it's all relative after all when you have over a million people on the social housing waiting list with no proper plans to accommodate those already in the country let alone the higher numbers that will pour in and become eligible for those houses with Labour in power. And if there is oversupply (there isn't), the eligibility criteria for social housing should be extended to catch a much bigger slice of the public because the middle class is going bankrupt paying for rentals.

The overarching point in my posts is that there is no plan to fix the housing market or address the strain migration has specifically on it, every country has its own set of circumstance and challenges and this is by far the biggest challenge the UK faces, if Americans don't have this problem and don't need to find the balance, good for them, but this isn't working here. The net effect of Labour policies over the next 5 years will make the challenge worse for everybody, not better. It doesn't mean that I want the tories in charge, I just don't want to hear fantasies from Labour about being able to solve the crisis while increasing net migration when their plans are clearly not realistic.