Open letter: Put radical housing policies in Labour’s manifesto

Labour Campaign for Council Housing has launched an open letter calling on the Labour leadership to put radical proposals for housing policy into the next party manifesto.

The campaign group is urging the party to adopt commitments to build 100,000 social rented council homes a year, ringfence £10bn for council housing and abolish Right to Buy.

All of these policy suggestions were put forward at Labour’s annual conference in September in a policy motion that was approved by party and trade union delegates.

Supporters of the initiative come from across the party, including high-profile figures such as Unite’s Len McCluskey, MEPs’ leader Richard Corbett, TSSA’s Manuel Cortes and several MPs.

The letter signatories, of which there are over 100, also comprise directly-elected mayors, council leaders, portfolio holders, parliamentary candidates and – crucially – seven ‘Clause V’ meeting attendees.

Below is the open letter by Labour Campaign for Council Housing in full.

To Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell and John Healey,

We the undersigned welcome the unanimous support of Labour conference for:

• Building 100,000 social rented council homes a year;
• £10bn housing grant a year, ring-fenced for councils to deliver this;
• Ending Right to Buy.

We understand that this is not automatically included in Labour’s next general election manifesto. In light of the unanimous conference vote, we call on the party to include these policies in the manifesto. They are absolutely critical if a Labour government is to begin to resolve the housing crisis.

Labour Campaign for Council Housing
Len McCluskey – General Secretary, Unite the Union (Clause V)
Richard Corbett – MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber, Leader of the European Parliamentary Party and NEC (Clause V)
Stella Creasy – MP for Walthamstow and PLP Committee (Clause V)
Graham Jones – MP for Hyndburn and PLP Committee (Clause V)
Manuel Cortes – General Secretary, TSSA (Clause V)
Lara McNeill – Young Labour NEC Representative (Clause V)
Keith Vaz – MP for Leicester East and BAME Labour NEC Representative (Clause V)
Matt Western – MP for Warwick and Leamington and Chair of the Parliamentary Campaign for Council Housing
David Drew – MP for Stroud and Vice-Chair of the Parliamentary Campaign for Council Housing
Emma Dent Coad – MP for Kensington
Lucy Powell – MP for Manchester Central
Darren Jones – MP for Bristol North West
Clive Lewis – MP for Norwich South
Jim Cunningham – MP for Coventry South
Daniel Zeichner – MP for Cambridge
Jon Cruddas – MP for Dagenham and Rainham
Rosie Duffield – MP for Canterbury
Steve Turner – Assistant General Secretary, Unite the Union
Rokhsana Fiaz – Mayor of Newham
Joe Anderson – Mayor of Liverpool
Philip Glanville – Mayor of Hackney
Peter Soulsby – City Mayor for Leicester
Cllr Judith Blake – Leader, Leeds City Council and LGA Lead Member for Children and Young People
Cllr Steve Curran – Leader, London Borough of Hounslow
Cllr John Clarke – Leader, Gedling Borough Council
Cllr Chris Emmas-Williams – Leader, Amber Valley Borough Council
Cllr Allen Brett – Leader, Rochdale Borough Council
Cllr Ric Metcalfe – Leader, City of Lincoln Council
Cllr Philip Bialyk – Leader, Exeter City Council
Cllr Sharon Taylor – Leader, Stevenage Borough Council
Cllr Pat Hackett – Leader, Wirral Council
Cllr Louise Gittins – Leader, Cheshire West and Chester Council
Cllr Ann Thomson – Leader, Barrow Borough Council
Cllr Muhammed Butt – Leader, Brent Council
Cllr Doina Cornell – Leader, Stroud District Council
Cllr Rick Everitt – Leader, Thanet District Council
Cllr Peter John – Leader, Southwark Council
Cllr Richard Watts – Leader, Islington Council
Cllr Mark Ingall – Leader, Harlow Council
Cllr Jason Brock – Leader, Reading Borough Council
Cllr Julie Dore – Leader, Sheffield City Council
Cllr John Gray – Deputy Mayor and Lead Cabinet Member for Housing Services, Newham Council
Cllr Glyn Jones – Deputy Mayor and Portfolio Holder for Housing and Equalities, Doncaster Council
Cllr Lynnie Hinnigan – Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member Housing, Liverpool City Council
Cllr Gail Harris – Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Social Housing, Norwich City Council
Cllr Sirajul Islam – Statutory Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Housing, Tower Hamlets Council
Cllr Mark Walsh – Lead Member, Housing and Transport, South Tyneside Council
Cllr Sharon Thompson – Cabinet Member for Homes and Neighbourhoods, Birmingham City Council
Cllr Linda Woodings – Portfolio Holder for Planning, Housing and Heritage, Nottingham City Council
Cllr Michael McVeigh – Portfolio Holder for Strategic Housing, Copeland Borough Council
Cllr Chris Kirby – Cabinet Member for Housing, Royal Borough of Greenwich
Cllr Leo Pollak – Cabinet Member for Social Regeneration, Great Estates, New Council Homes, Southwark Council
Cllr Kieron Williams – Cabinet Member for Housing and Modernisation, Southwark Council
Cllr Nigel Long – Cabinet Member for Housing and Regeneration, Milton Keynes Council
Cllr Meric Apak – Cabinet Member for Better Homes, Camden Council
Cllr Andy Batsford – Housing, Leisure and Community Engagement Portfolio Holder, Hastings Borough Council
Cllr Rebecca Atkinson – Housing and Regeneration Portfolio Holder, Sunderland City Council
Cllr Laura Wright – Lead Councillor for Council Housing Development and Services, Exeter City Council
Cllr Neal Brookes – Cabinet Member for Housing and Welfare Reform, Blackpool Council
Cllr Ian Irvine – Cabinet Member for Housing, Crawley Borough Council
Cllr Henry Wheeler – Portfolio Holder for Housing, Health & Wellbeing, Gedling Borough Council
Cllr Jenny Wilkie – Cabinet Member for Housing and Landlord Services, West Lancashire Borough Council
Cllr Hannah Roberts – Cabinet Member for Housing, Oldham Council
Cllr Jeannette Thomas – Portfolio Holder for Housing, Health and Older People, Stevenage Borough Council
Cllr Mike Rowley – Portfolio Holder for Housing, Oxford City Council
Cllr Trish Hardy – Cabinet Member, Communities and Housing, Sefton Council
Cllr John Adams – Cabinet Member for Housing, Gateshead Council
Cllr Paul Bell – Cabinet Member for Housing, Lewisham Council
Cllr Phillip O’Dell – Cabinet Member for Housing, London Borough of Harrow
Cllr Carol Wardle – Portfolio Holder for Planning, Development and Housing, Rochdale Borough Council
Cllr Diarmaid Ward – Executive Member for Housing & Development, Islington Council
Cllr Satvir Kaur – Cabinet Member for Homes and Culture, Southampton City Council
Cllr Linda Hobson – Cabinet Member for Housing, Newcastle City Council
Cllr Paul Smith – Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Housing, Bristol City Council
Cllr Richard McCauley – Cabinet Member for Economic Regeneration and Housing, St Helens Council
Cllr Shaban Mohammed – Deputy Cabinet Member for Housing Services, Newham Council
Cllr David Meller – Cabinet Member for Economy & Regeneration, Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council
Cllr Chas Townley – Deputy Leader of the Labour Group & Chair of Housing Committee, Stroud District Council
Cllr Andrew Scarborough – Leader of the Opposition, Borough Council of Wellingborough
Cllr Mike Davies – Bristol City Council
George Clarke – Architect and Presenter of George Clarke’s Council House Scandal
John Boughton – Social Historian and Author of Municipal Dreams: The Rise and Fall of Council Housing
Paul Watt – Professor of Urban Studies, Birkbeck University
Duncan Bowie – Senior Lecturer in Spatial Planning, University of Westminster
Laura McAlpine – Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Harlow
Jennifer Forbes – Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Truro and Falmouth
Kate Linnegar – Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for North Swindon
Jane Aitchison – Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Pudsey
Hugo Fearnley – Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Scarborough and Whitby
Tina McKay – Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Colchester
Anna Perrett – Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for York
Corrie Drew – Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Bournemouth
Jackie Schneider – Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Wimbledon
Nicola Bowden Jones – Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Kingswood
Pamela Fitzpatrick – Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Harrow East
Labour Representation Committee
Defend Council Housing
Leicester West CLP
Spelthorne CLP
South East Cornwall CLP
Wyre Forest CLP