The basis for 20th-century social democracy in Britain is gone, argues ANDREW MURRAY – but there are measures a Burnham government could take that would break with neoliberalism
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Labour must abolish the right to buy
MARTIN WICKS argues that the government’s reduced discounts for council house purchases don’t go far enough, and we need to be calling for the complete abolition of this regressive Thatcherite policy
HOUSING CRISIS: Campaigners protesting the destruction of council housing in London protest outside City Hall, 2015
TONY BURKE pays tribute to a dedicated trade unionist and true internationalist who helped organise workers from Britain to Bangladesh
NASUWT leader MATT WRACK says schools are crying out for serious investment — and there are other immediate changes a new prime minister could and should enact
Keir Starmer’s resignation speech seemed to be coming from a different universe, or maybe it was just a fanfaronade of falsehoods, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
Starmer will be judged on his record, but it would be wrong to view him in isolation from the crisis of the British political establishment, says the COMMUNIST PARTY in its official statement on the PM’s resignation
Over 1,000 hostile US sanctions remain in place on Venezuela, while Britain continues its colonial theft of gold, writes MATT WILLGRESS
THE government has introduced a Statutory Instrument in Parliament to cut the discount for tenants when they buy a home through right to buy (RTB).
Discounts were increased by the Tories in 2012. Maximum discounts are currently £136,400 in London and £102,400 elsewhere. The discounts will be returned to pre-2012 levels; from £16,000 to £38,000, depending on the region you live in (see table below). These reduced discounts will be applied from November 21.
Current restrictions mean that councils can only cover 40 per cent of the cost of a new build home with RTB receipts, and cannot combine them with money from section 106 agreements, in which developers make contributions for “affordable housing.” The government is ending these restrictions, so it is effectively up to councils how they use receipts.
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Building is the solution for much of our housing crisis – and will also help to address poverty, ill health, and even anti-social behaviour and alienation, writes KENNY MacASKILL
CAROL WILCOX argues for the proper implementation of the land value tax, which could see unused plots sold off and landlords priced out of landlordism, potentially resolving the housing and planning crises
Our housing crisis isn’t an accident – it’s class war, trapping millions in poverty while landlords and billionaires profit. To solve it, we need comprehensive transformation, not mere tokenistic reform, writes BECK ROBERTSON
