Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has led a protest calling for the government to introduce rent controls.
Corbyn, who now sits as an independent MP, was joined by Labour MP Chris Hinchcliff – who last year was temporarily suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party for repeated breaches.
Also present at the London demo was Hannah Spencer, the Green Party MP, who won the Gorton and Denton by-election earlier this year.
The event was organised by a group of activist groups calling for two things: rent controls in the private sector, and rent controls for promised future council homes.
A spokesperson for one of the organising groups – Jae Vail – says: “Claims made by ministers that the new Renters Rights Act is protecting tenants from unaffordable rent increases are simply not true.
“Renters across the country are being slapped with unaffordable rent hikes as high as 40% or more and the new tribunal system is failing to stop them.
“Unaffordable housing is at the centre of the cost of living crisis, pushing countless renters to cut back on food, heating and other essentials.
“If [Prime Minister Andy] Burnham is serious about breaking with 40 years of neoliberalism, he must protect renters from rip-off rent hikes and introduce rent controls.”
And Grace Brown, researcher at the New Economics Foundation, adds:”Andy Burnham has made welcome promises to deliver a better housing system – but, as tenants unions and housing groups are saying, there needs to be action to address the immediate pressures renters are facing.
“Well-designed rent controls can provide this relief. England had rent controls until Thatcher abolished them: If the Prime Minister is serious about ending forty years of neoliberalism, rent controls are the place to start.
“Alongside this, there is also an opportunity for this government to deliver a once-in-a-generation transformation, by giving people access to affordable, safe and secure homes. For this to be achieved, there needs to be a scaling up of investment in council homes.”
