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In 2012 when John Spellar and I ran the Rotherham by-election we saw UKIP get over a fifth of the vote while barely lifting a finger. Over the following year, other Labour MPs began to talk to me about UKIP gaining ground in their areas, so…
This is the full response issued by John Healey, shadow secretary of state for housing, after the government said it would provide funding for increased affordable housing. “Six years of Conservative housing policy have led to the lowest…
In 2010 in his first Budget, George Osborne promised to rebalance the economy so that it “generates local economic growth… in all parts of the country”. Six years on it’s painfully clear that he and his Conservative colleagues failed. Gaps…
Getting to grips with the cost of housing is one of Labour’s priorities. Millions of people now struggle week-to-week because of this country’s housing crisis. But I know too often our Labour debate about a complex policy area like housing…
After five years of failure on housing, the Budget was a huge let-down. Under Conservative Ministers, housebuilding fell to its lowest peacetime level since the 1920s in the last Parliament, while home-ownership has also dropped sharply…
This week the Government sneaked out a statement admitting that George Osborne’s crude cuts to housing benefit for people in supported homes will be delayed while Ministers frantically do what they should have done months ago and examine…
UKIP claim they “are the only party with something fundamentally different to say when it comes to housing”, as their housing spokesperson wrote in October. But their record in Parliament tells a different story. UKIP march in lock-step…
While Labour is totally taken up with the leadership contest, the Tories are pressing on with what they do best. Support for the disabled cut. Help for low-earning families slashed back. Public assets and investments paid for by generations…
The Chancellor boasted today that ‘this is a big Budget…a new settlement from a one nation government’’. It is the first majority Conservative budget statement for almost two decades in which George Osborne is also trying to define the…
We know that we’ve got our work cut out to win a Labour majority government in 2020. Without a major recovery in Scotland we’ll need to win around 100 additional seats in England and Wales in less than 5 years’ time on an average swing of…
In September 2010 I sent an open memo on the real 'middle Britain' to each of Labour's then candidates for Leader. And LabourList published it. Today I am reissuing my memo, word-for-word as it was five years ago with only the figures…
This critical period we have to choose the next person to lead our party into government in 2020 is being dogged by the question we should have dealt with decisively years ago – 'Did Labour spend too much?'. It’s one of the first questions…
