21st century pterodactyl bytes 3
Building council housing
Housing, for a very long time, has been a subject dear to the heart of many in the Labour Party. It almost seems that it is the one remaining area that rank and file members are out of step with the leadership. In most policy areas commonsense no longer prevails and all progressive thought is ridiculed by the machine unless and until government wants to take it as its own. If only government spoke with normal people we wouldn’t find ourselves replacing trident, going to war based on a lie nor suggest that ID cards will allow us to all sleep securely at night.
For three years running , despite the best efforts of the SLM, conference voted for the fourth option and a level playing field for the funding of council housing. I am a big supporter of the pressure group Defend Council Housing – they have almost single-handedly kept council housing at the top of the Labour Party policy making agenda. I hope in years to come the Labour movement will have the good grace to recognise the efforts of all those involved within this pressure group.
So overwhelming has been Labour Party support for the ‘fourth option’that the government, who have continued to ignore Labour Party policy in this area , decided that democracy needed a further makeover, so debates which ended in meaningful votes were abolished. This year we discussed instead, statements, and not motions , we voted on the sustainable communities policy document and the annex report on housing that came out of last year’s conference discussion on housing. Confused ? The outcome of all of this is that we accepted a report welcoming government progress on moving towards the fourth option and then sent the whole process back to the NPF for further discussion as we now want government to finance a programme of council house building. While I am very pleased to see the pressure maintained on the government and it looks like I will be invited to meet the policy commission to further the case for council housing , my CLP having submitted a ten word statement on council housing, the whole process is nothing short of bonkers.
Who needs shelter?
I spent much of my time attending housing fringe meetings and from what I saw it seems as if ‘Shelter’ are working for the government ! Gone it would seem are the days when Shelter offered radical solutions to the housing crisis. Is Adam Sampson looking for a safe Labour seat ? I don’t like cross over careerists and I am pleased to recount, following a chance conversation, that it appears , (thank goodness) that the integrity fuelled pocket rocket Shami ( not Hazel) is unlikely to consider becoming a Labour MP.
An exercise in bondage
The bond between each part of our movement can at some times be a little fragile. We all need each other but we would in particular like to see the unions support the ‘right’ CLP positions a little more often . It is clear that those in powerful positions can and, from time to time, do gain concessions from our government. A single CLP delegate is never going to have the same impact as, say, Tony Woodley. What I cannot understand is why do the unions refuse to support progressive positions that will benefit their members unless it happens to be on their particular wish list on a given day? This continually sees them voting different ways on the same issues on a regular basis. TBC
