Controversial politician George Galloway has issued a party manifesto saying the payment of “exorbitant rents to wealthy buy to let pensioners” is not sustainable.

Galloway – who in he past has been an MP for both the Labour and Respect parties – now leads the Workers Party of Britain.

Its manifesto refers to ‘the scandal of young people not being able to afford their own homes or (at the least) having automatic access to fair rent social housing expresses the utter failure of neo-liberal capitalism.” 

Galloway – who won the Rochdale by-election in February of this year for the Workers Party – goes on to say: “Even the children of the well-off upper middle classes now pay exorbitant rents to wealthy buy-to-let ‘pensioners’. In many cases, with the collapse of the welfare state and numerous pension fund robberies, investment in property became the safest place to plan for your retirement. This situation is not sustainable. 

“Our birth rate is falling because families start later and with less resources. This then encourages business interests to clamour for more migrants who put even greater pressure on limited and deteriorating housing stock.”

He says his party will end this “catastrophe for young people and families”. It will “begin a programme of social housing that will over-ride all unnecessary planning constraints. We will be prepared for the compulsory expropriation of all unused land banks and the fast-tracking of permits. We will end the scandal of sub-standard buy-to-let as the default policy of a failed political class by ensuring the right to buy or transfer of such assets to local authorities.”

Galloway’s manifesto makes no reference to rent controls but goes on to say: “We will tighten up further on any eviction action that is not based on anti-social behaviour towards neighbours and the community. We will also get tough on noise pollution, anti-social behaviour in general and use of property for criminal purposes. We will continue to democratise the ownership and responsibilities of multi-ownership dwellings. We will, however, guarantee the right to independent home ownership and social mobility that can release social housing stock for those starting out on the housing ladder.”

Elsewhere in the manifesto, the Workers Party pledges to “ensure working class representation throughout the governance of the Bank of England”; to “campaign for Britain to leave NATO”; and the “reversal of policies aimed at deindustrialisation” while “exploring innovative demands for workers control and participation in the future of industry through our trade unions.”

It also argues for selection nationalisation and claims that “the greatest block to working class aspirations is not the Conservative Party but the Labour party itself.”