The Green Party - which ran the Brighton and Hove council until being swept from office in May’s local elections - are still arguing for rent controls in the city.
The Brighton area is the centre of particular interest as it has the country’s only Green MP - Caroline Lucas, who is retiring at the next General Election - and local activists have just selected rent control enthusiast Sian Berry to replace her as candidate.
Green councillors on the Brighton and Hove authority have attempted to push the council into asking the Labour Party nationally to support rent controls. This is despite Labour’s shadow housing secretary Lisa Nandy making it clear her party would not back them, as they could lead to reduced rental supply.
However, Brighton Green councillor and housing spokesperson Ellen Mcleay says: “Rent controls are an essential tool that we need in our arsenal. Landlord licences are of course very necessary as well, which is why Greens initiated a landlord licensing scheme in this city. Labour says they’ll support renters but today they have dodged calls for the powers to freeze rents.
“By refusing to commit to calling on the national Labour Party to support rent controls, this Labour council demonstrates that they are backing Keir over renters. Labour said they would “demand devolved powers from government to introduce rent caps” in the May election manifesto – another broken promise.”
And another Green councillor in Brighton adds: “The Labour Party has spent a lot of time talking about how mortgage price rises due to high interest rates are hitting homeowners. What is not being spoken about is that this will lead to even higher rents.
“There is a real concern of a housing crash happening very soon, and we need powers to be able to protect renters. Those powers must come from national government, and quickly.
“Unlike Labour, Greens are unequivocal; we need rent controls to bring down the price of rent, and we need them now.”
/Parliament-Summer-400x310.jpg)
%20-%20IMAGE%20Client%20Accounting%20%E2%80%93%20what%20are%20your%20options.jpg)
%20(002).png)
.png)
.png)
%20(002).jpg)
Join the conversation
Jump to latest comment and add your reply
The Green Party are the only party which actually give a .… about our children’s future, and they won 15% of the national vote last time round. 1 seat is representative of the outdated voting system this country still relies on to reflect the population’s demographics, which clearly it is not doing.
Nevertheless rent controls don’t work, Scotland has shown that.
Have you been to Brighton in recent years?… I lived 10 miles away, it’s a dump!!…z if this is how the Green Party lead, let’s hope they never see power again. Bins overflowing, roads filthy, congestion charges that move traffic elsewhere and solve nothing
The Green Councillor where I live voted to remove a food-growing field adjacent to a nature reserve from Green Belt status and to allow 124 homes to be built on it... How that ... woman ... got voted back in is beyond me, I can only imagine most of the area did not hear about it, or that she called the police on people who called her a hypocrite.
I don't trust a single politician at the moment, I think they have all forgotten that WE are the ones who vote them in to SERVE OUR best interests as a country. Not to feather their own nest at our cost.
Please login to comment