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THE UK’S LABOUR Party has promised a council and social housing “revolution” by building up to 150,000 such homes a year by the end of its time in office.
The party’s manifesto, which was launched this morning by Jeremy Corbyn, includes plans for the largest ever post-war council house-building effort costing £75 billion.
The plans envisage that 100,000 of these homes would be built by councils for rent, an enormous increase on the 6,287 built over 2018/2019 under the current government.
A further 50,000 “genuinely affordable homes” would be built each year through housing associations by the end of the same period.
Labour says it will spend half of its £150 billion “social transformation fund” on house-building over five years.
The building programme will only take place in England, with housing being a devolved matter for governments across the UK.
To fund the housing project and Labour’s other spending plans, the party is planning to increase tax revenue by £82.9 billion a year by 2024.
Corbyn has promised the increases will not affect 95% of taxpayers.
The plans would reverse cuts to public sector pay with above-inflation pay rises year-on-year, paid for by an increase in taxes for those earning more than £80,000 while freezing rates for everyone else.
Among the other tax increases is a pledge to gradually increase corporation tax rate from its current rate of 21% to 26%, this Labour says would raise £23.7 billion annually.
Among its other pledges on housing, Labour has promised to create “a new English Sovereign Land Trust, with powers to buy land more cheaply for low-cost housing”.
“We will use public land to build this housing, not sell it off to the highest bidder. Developers will face new ‘use it or lose it’ taxes on stalled housing developments,” the manifesto states.
Labour also wants to scrap the current definition of “affordable” rents and replace it with “a definition linked to local incomes”.
Corbyn has also said that as Prime Minister he would lead a task force aimed at “ending rough sleeping within five years”.
In launching the manifesto in Birmingham this morning, Corbyn said it was “the most radical and ambitious plan to transform our country in decades.
“Housing should be for the many, not a speculation opportunity for dodgy landlords and the wealthy few,” he said.
“I am determined to create a society where working-class communities and young people have access to affordable, good-quality council and social homes.”
Official UK housing statistics have shown more than one million households are on waiting lists for council housing.
- With reporting by Press Association
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He’s living in dreamland if he thinks that’s feasible without damaging the economy, especially during Brexit.
@Brian Ó Dálaigh: There was no need for anything else beyond dreamland.
@Brian Ó Dálaigh:
Borrowing more than £400 billion to fund poorly-costed, unaffordable fantasy policies. And loading it on to the citizens’ shoulders.
Where have we seen that before, and how it inevitably ends?….
@Brian Ó Dálaigh: Brexit ain’t happened as yet lad. If he got in he would call another referendum. Then we would see what the public want now.
@Dermot Foley: He wants Brexit, he doesn’t deny that heart always been anti EU.
@Brian Ó Dálaigh: hs2 is said to cost 88 billion
@Burt CrackerJack: (He’s always been Anti Eu)
@Dermot Foley: He’s always been Anti EU and a Communist.
@The Quare Fella: He never said anything about borrowing. Do you always just skip to the comment section and make things up? He said he’s going to tax the mega rich and corporations who are hoarding billions. Seems absolutely reasonable and feasible to me.
@Clifford Brennan: Or he could join the Tory’s dream of continuing to make the rich – richer and the poor – poorer. The tory’s only built 6k social houses last year. It would seem the Irish Tory’s (FG) and their British cousins are sharing the same brain cells.
The next FG election slogan should be – “anything the British Tories can feck-up, we can copy and make a bigger mess of here!
@Nicky O’Donnell:
“The party is planning a series of nationalisations, £400 billion of new borrowing and higher taxes on high earners and big business to fund better public services. ”
From a rival publication – don’t want to mention the name at this time (wink, wink), because the comment might be deleted.
Pandering to his target audience , commonly known as The Scrote Vote, those seeking free homes and endless benefits at the expense of all tax paying workers. Identical to Sinn Fein policies here.
Sorry folks it wont be happening any time soon.
@Colonel Grant: as opposed to the Torys who are like Fine Gael and their lackeys who only cater for the middle and upper classes and those with their snouts in the trough who follow the gravy train.
They found 30 billion for Trident handily enough. His idead are far fetched but lets not pretend the Tories don’t magic up money when they need it.
As expected, it’s “fully custard”
Snooze
@Bitcoin Buddy: The tory’s magic up money? Arlene Foster is already telling voters in Belfast theres much more Tory money on the way for those who’ll vote unionist.
Who’s going to build them, if Brexiteers get their way
They should scrap Brexit. It’s not going to work anyway. The politicians are going to destroy our country
have your say