7th
Jun 2021
The former Labour Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has spoken out against what he calls “the greed of the mega-landlords.”
The veteran MP who was Jeremy Corbyn’s deputy during the ill-fated party leadership says: "Even before the [Coronavirus] crisis, tenants were being crushed between high rents and low wages. The Covid crisis has only made the situation worse.
“Meanwhile, UK billionaires have increased their wealth by more than 237 a day since the pandemic began.
“Enough is enough - we have to defend working people against the greed of the mega landlords. We need transformative solutions, like banning no fault evictions and cancelling all pandemic rent debt."
McDonnell’s comments backed up Momentum’s series of protests against lifting the ban of bailiff-enforced evictions which finally came to an end on May 31st.
The country wide series of protests held by the left-wing political movement included staging a mock eviction of Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick in London, with other Momentum activists protests taking place in Portsmouth, Southend, Hammersmith and Shipley.
The group is demanding that the government must abolish section 21 evictions, wipe out all pandemic rent debt, and extend/reintroduce the eviction ban until the pandemic runs its course.
Momentum is also planning its own campaign for a housing motion to be unveiled at the labour party conference due to take place at the end of September and if approved Labour would pledge to building 100,000 council houses a year. It would also give councils’ powers to ‘seize’ long-term empty homes to house the homeless, irrespective of immigration status.
Another Labour MP, Apsana Begum, when addressing the protesters said: “The pandemic has hit renters incredibly hard. Now the Tories are letting vulnerable people be evicted during a pandemic in order to guarantee the profits of mega landlords.
"The government must take action to protect renters now. From banning 'no fault' evictions to cancelling pandemic rent debt, there are immediate steps we could take to prevent renters from bearing the brunt of the crisis."
Housing lawyer and QC David Renton added: “Under the lockdown, hundreds of thousands of tenants have been threatened with evictions by their landlord. So far, fortunately, the number actually evicted remains much less.
“My worry is that with the eviction ban going, these threats will turn into reality.”
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