The Renters Election

The old saying goes, “A week is a long time in politics” and certainly the last week felt very, very long. The betting scandal is dominating the press agenda and frankly, it is detracting from the real debate that should be going on. As far as I am concerned, they are all a bunch of idiots with too much money that they are simply wasting.

So, let’s refocus the election campaign for them!

For those of you who are old enough to remember the 1980s, Mrs Thatcher played a blinder with the “Essex Man”, the “C2”, blue collar Tory voter. She sold them their council house and elevated them to property owners. Those houses made many of them “paper millionaires” and cemented their support for the Tories for a long time. Then came Mr Blair and “Cool Britannia”, with “Mondeo Man” the generation that could afford the nice car and the holidays abroad and voted for New Labour.

David Cameron had the “Mumsnet Generation” who after the 2008 financial crash and the dawn of the social media generation wanted stability, but also, there was a much bigger exchange of views and information in the new online world. Boris Johnson then had the “Workington Man” in the wake of the empty Brexit promises about the new glory days… And the Red Wall crumbled as Boris promised them all sorts of wonderful and undeliverable things.

This election should be about those of us trapped in the rental market. “Robbie and Ruth the Renters” should make their voices heard. In 2022-23, the private rented sector in England accounted for 4.6 million or 19% of households, about double the size it was in the early 2000s. And it is going up every single day. That is a significant number who can swing this election.

So, what are on offer from the main parties? Both the Tories and Labour have promised 300,000 new homes per year and the LibDems have promised 380,000 (and I will be reminding councillors of these promises the next time they say they don’t want development!!)

What else is being offered?

The Conservative Party manifesto commits to eventually ban no-fault evictions. The party first proposed this policy in 2019 but the bill did not become law before the end of the last parliament… another one of Boris’ empty promises.

Labour’s manifesto says it will abolish no-fault evictions and empower renters to challenge what are described as unreasonable rent increases. Keir Starmer has said Labour would pass new laws to prevent rental "bidding wars", if his party wins the election.

The Liberal Democrats also pledge to ban no-fault evictions and say they would make three-year tenancies the default.

The Greens also back the ending of no-fault evictions and say they want the introduction of long-term leases.

So, when you get your ballot paper next week, keep this in mind! It is your chance to have your voices heard!

Until polling day next week,

Henry