Is there a witch-hunt of landlords in the Labour Party?

A Labour activist claiming to represent tenants is putting the squeeze on party members who are also landlords.

An article on the Labour List website is fiercely critical of the party leadership over rental sector policies and equally condemnatory of landlords.

It accuses the current party top brass of moving away from commitments made under former leader Jeremy Corbyn.

“There was a firm commitment to rent controls and repealing Right to Buy in the last manifesto and any movement away from that position, particularly on Right to Buy, is a betrayal of tenants” says the author, Luke Evans.

He launches an attack on landlords, saying: “Labour’s backtracking on these issues is a sign that the decision-makers in the party do not understand the fundamentally opposed interests of landlords and tenants. Recognising this conflict is vital if the party wants to develop a programme to really fix the situation for private tenants. The party cannot return to appealing to the better nature of landlords.”

There is the distinct sound of a witch-hunt when he continues: “It is hard to discount that the continued and disproportionate presence of landlords in positions of power within Labour might be one factor that explains why the party has been falling short.”

No evidence is given by the article to justify the claim of a “continued and disproportionate presence of landlords in positions of power”.

Evans says this is not a call for a ban on landlords being Labour members but admits he is launching a campaign to ask those standing for election to the party’s ruling National Executive Committee to reveal whether they let property.

“The Labour membership is made up in large part by tenants – they deserve better, and they deserve transparency” he contends.

In the article Evans calls himself "a Labour activist and founding member of Labour Tenants United."

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