Housing evictions - main parties to blame

Mary Jackson, TUSC candidate Stainforth and Moorends ward, Doncaster

Evictions in Britain have reached a ten year high. Disgracefully 31,000 possession orders are being applied for by councils, and it's mostly Labour councils that are carrying out this appalling act.

Another 6,500 are being evicted by private landlords but we can expect no better from them; they are letting properties to make profit. Our elected councillors are supposedly providing a service.

This housing crisis is a nightmare for families, but also a growing social problem for us all. Cuts to housing benefit, the bedroom tax and the benefit cap are making it impossible for people to keep their homes. None of these measures were designed to save public money or ease the housing crisis (as was the excuse of this unelected government) but simply a measure to take government money (our money) to use for tax breaks for the super-rich - £8 billion this year alone.

The only answer to this crisis is a massive council house-building and regeneration programme which would not only create the desperately needed homes for the two million families currently on the waiting lists for social housing but would cut the dole queue, create apprenticeships for young people and put money in people's pockets.

The money is available in council coffers from the sale of council houses over the past 30 years. Councils are saving this for a 'rainy day' but haven't they noticed it's pouring down!

But neither Labour nor the Con-Dems plan to invest in homes and jobs in this way. These parties are too busy putting the interests of the fat cats first. Housebuilder Telford Homes, for example, expects to double its profits on the back of Osborne's 'Help-to-buy' scheme, which is also fuelling a housing price bubble.

Fortunately, there is an alternative to the establishment parties and their slavish devotion to 'market' policies.

On 22 May, Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidates are contesting council elections in the biggest left of Labour challenge since World War Two.

TUSC councillors will refuse to vote for any Con-Dem cuts to our services and will fight for the creation of millions of council houses. Don't waste your vote. Use it!

Tackle the housing crisis by mass building and renovation of council houses
Cap all rents in the private sector at council rent level
Scrap the bedroom tax. Reverse all welfare cuts
For a £10 an hour minimum wage for all
Nationalise the house-building companies
Fight for a socialist alternative to capitalism

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Coronavirus crisis - Finance appeal

The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.

The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.

The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.

The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
Our 'fighting coronavirus workers' charter', outlines a programme to combat the virus and protect workers' living conditions.
When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.