Analysis

Starmer blocks Khan from capping London rents

The Starver is at it again, fattening landlords at the expense of ordinary people

Keir Starmer has killed London mayor Sadiq Khan’s nascent plans to impose controls on exorbitant rents charged by London landlords.

As rents continue to soar around the country, Khan was reportedly hoping to gain mayoral powers to cap rents that can easily reach thousands of pounds a month for even a modest London flat, but a government spokesperson has quickly quashed the idea, saying that the notionally-Labour government has ‘no plans whatsoever’ to give rent control powers to executive mayors.

Now, in its strongest language yet on the issue, a spokesman for the new Government has said ministers have “no plans whatsoever to devolve rent control powers”. Starmer had claimed earlier this year that his government would ‘work together’ with Khan on the issue.

Rents in London have risen on average by a third since 2019, with some areas increasing by more than half, putting a massive strain on families already struggling under corporate price-gouging in the so-called ‘cost of living crisis’. Khan has argued for a freeze on rents in the capital but now, in what appears to be a capitulation to the PM known as the ‘Kid Starver’, his office is briefing that he has moved on to different ‘priorities’ in his discussion with Starmer’s government, such as more housebuilding – a plan for which Starmer and his ministers have said they will use private investment, further fattening already-bloated landlords, investors and corporations.

Yet again – not that this is remotely surprising – Starmer is prioritising the interests of wealth above those of the huge numbers of ordinary people in desperate need of decent homes that will not impoverish them, not just in London but around the country.

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10 comments

  1. This is the economic stupidity we’re up against:

    Rachel Reeves would make a mess of any household’s finances

  2. And what happens when the blue collar are forced out of that london?

    Who will empty keef’s bins? Fix the streetlight outside all of his kens? Stack the shelves at his local fortnums?

    But at least they’ll all be able to name their own prices for the rents on their 2nd/3rd/4th home portfolios, rent them to each other and claim on expenses.

    And their slogan was ‘change’

      1. Isn’t it the purpose of kid starver’s posse to continue the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer? Hence their reluctance to agree (?) to the cap on privately rented properties? Can Khan not just do it anyway?

      2. ‘Spare change?’ will be the slogan of the masses, the way these parasitic imbeciles are carrying on.

  3. It’s not about left and right. We have to get out of our different camps, we have to be honest about the problems the UK faces. Whether you protest against the Genocide or on the level of migration, we all want affordable homes, we all want our wages to pay us enough for a place to live, to pay the bills and to have a bit left over. We want our pensions to be able to sustain us in our retirement and not to feel we are scroungers. The establishment is fragmenting us into little camps of hate, far right, commies, race, creed. If we don’t all join hands soon we’re done for, the 1% will win. They wanted riots so they could bring in more legislation that censors discussion and debate on social media. They know what they’re doing. I hope more people wake up.

  4. Meanwhile…..

    https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/08/21/rachel-reeves-new-wheeze-punishing-those-who-live-in-social-housing-with-above-infaltion-rent-rises/

    “This is in the FT this morning:

    UK chancellor Rachel Reeves is planning to raise social rents by more than inflation for the next 10 years in an attempt to boost the building of affordable homes.

    Reeves intends to introduce a 10-year formula in October’s Budget that will increase annual rents in England by the CPI measure of inflation — currently 2.2 per cent — plus an additional 1 per cent, according to government insiders.

    They add:

    The move is aimed at encouraging the building of more affordable homes by providing certainty over cash flows to housing associations and councils — which are grappling with heavy debt burdens and large maintenance backlogs.

    So, Reeves intends to hit those on lower incomes (because most of those in social housing do have lower incomes) with a penalty for the temerity of wanting to live in state-owned / subsidised housing when she could instead fund that subsidy with ease by removing the multiplicity of tax reliefs that the richest in our society enjoy.

    This is social and economic insanity. I could just about imagine the Tories coming up with something as badly designed as this, but Reeves was (checks notes) apparently elected as a Labour MP and is a member of (checks notes, again) something called a Labour government.

    Since when did Labour set out to punish those on low incomes?

    Why will they not tax the richest fairly?

    Why, if they want more social housing, will they not simply underpin the cost of providing it, and fund it themselves – as they could easily do?

    Do we have to suffer almost five more years of this?”

    These wankers will never be satisfied until they have either pauperised or vapourised the bulk of the population for the benefit of the PMC.

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