4th
Oct 2023
Rental activists were pulling their hair out after Housing Secretary Michael Gove ignored the Renters Reform Bill during his key speech at the Tories conference.
His speech to delegates in the Manchester conference centred more on attacking the Labour party and condemning its leader Sir Keir Starmer as being a “jellyfish of British politics … transparent, spineless and swept along by the tide”.
Gove also stated the Conservatives would make sure to stop the opposition party from ever “taking our fields, meadows, and forests away from our children” as he pledged the government’s housebuilding plans would protect Britain’s nature.
He is also in charge of the government‘s ‘levelling up’ and boasted the Conservatives were “the party of beauty and nature” and promised to “build in the hearts of towns and cities and on brownfield land, because that cuts commuting times, revitalises high streets and protects the Green Belt.”
Prior to his speech both Gove and Housing Minister Rachael Maclean promised at fringe meetings that the contentious Bill would receive its Second Reading in the Commons before Christmas, however his failure to make any mention of the Bill during his conference speech set off a serious of angered tweets from Generation Rent’s leadership who must be attending the conference on pertinent days.
Conor O’Shea the charity’s policy and public affairs manager, tweeted: “Not a single mention of the Renters Reform bill in Housing Secretary @Michaelgove’s speech here at conference. More worries that the issue is not as high a priority as we have been reassured.”
The rental activist’s chief executive Ben Twomey who was present at Gove’s fringe meetings where he announced the government’s Second Reading pledge, tweeted; “Renters having to fight for a seat at the table every single day. Exhausting but we’ll keep going - @genrentUK will be heard!”
A spokesperson for an industry body responded to Gove's conference speech, said: “The Conservative Party’s record in government means we are continuing to talk about building more homes that the country desperately needs.
"Reforming planning, new homes to net zero and more affordable places to live are vital but we need action now. Furthermore, the party of home ownership also needs to be the party of renting which means a whole-scale review of taxes impacting landlords and investment in the private rented sector. Money to support regional development is welcome but the proportion of towns that will receive support is a drop in the ocean to what is needed.”
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