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Housing and Council Tax
Respect condemns the failure of this government to invest in council housing.

Homelessness has gone up since New Labour came to power, with thousands more suffering overcrowding and spiralling housing costs. Six million people living in council housing have been told by the government that there can be no investment in their homes unless they agree to some form of privatisation.

It is becoming almost impossible for first-time buyers to afford a house.

The erosion of council housing, with hardly any new council flats and houses being built, has fuelled the house price boom.

Decent, affordable, council housing should be available for everyone who needs it. But this involves building new council homes and improving existing stock. The money is there for this.

The government raises one and half billion pounds from council rents and another half billion from right-to-buy receipts each year. It writes off hundreds of millions of pounds of council debts each year in support of stock-transfer schemes.

Audit Commission reports have shown that council housing is the most cost-effective form of social housing. The private rented sector has excessively high rents, not all of which are covered by housing benefit.

Housing association rents are often so high that they can create a poverty trap for tenants. The government is paying millions on extra housing benefit due to such high rents.

The government knows that there is a growing shortage of affordable housing but has few solutions. Reliance on owner occupation and market forces to provide affordable homes has failed for people on average or low incomes.

Safe, secure, affordable housing is a fundamental right for everyone, and council housing best provides it.

The Council Tax is a growing burden that unfairly hits the poor and pensioners. We stand for its replacement with a progressive local income tax to fund local services, where people pay according to their ability to do so. To make that work fairly also means an equalisation of local taxes, so that the poorest councils are subsidised by the richest.

RESPECT CALLS FOR:

> An end to the privatisation of council housing – build more council homes.

> For publicly owned land to be used for council housing, not sold off to property speculators to build houses local people can’t afford.

> Resources for local authorities to invest directly in council housing.

> Council tenants who have been forced to privatise to gain investment in their homes to have the right to return to local authority ownership.

> Legislation to prevent landlords from setting excessive rents.

> Action to reduce the number of empty houses.

> Abolition of the Council Tax, which is a flat-rate tax unrelated to ability to pay, and to replace it with a progressive local income tax.
 

News and articles of interest

Here are some articles and news reports we think are worth looking at

From Triumph to Torture by John Pilger
Two weeks ago, I presented a young Palestinian, Mohammed Omer, with the 2008 Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism. Awarded in memory of the great US war correspondent, the prize goes to journalists who expose establishment propaganda, or "official drivel", as Gellhorn called it.

SATs school tests criticised by official report by Harvey Thompson and Linda Slattery
In May, millions of school children throughout England undertook their Standard Assessment Tasks (SATs) in English, mathematics and science. The statutory tests are widely considered to be flawed and almost universally reviled by teachers and children alike.

Health: Who asked for choice? - Morning Star
IF Health Minister Ben Bradshaw believes that there is political capital to be made by taking on our NHS doctors, he will quickly come unstuck.

Afghanistan troop deaths outnumber those in Iraq by Angela Balakrishnan and agencies
Militants in Afghanistan killed more US and Nato troops than those in Iraq in June after a fresh spate of rebel attacks that highlighted the growing strength of the Taliban.

Iran legally entitled to develop nuclear energy, says UK MP
Iran is legally entitled to develop nuclear energy under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, according to a British MP visiting Tehran for the first time. George Galloway, who was expelled from Britain's ruling Labor Party for his outspoken opposition to the Iraq war, also criticized the hypocrisy of Israel's belligerence towards Iran, which has its own illegal stockpile of nuclear weapons.

In the Cause of Fear and Ignorance by John Pilger
Muslims are alone as they watch the British state, with its "obstinate incomprehension" of their faith, do to them as it would never do to those of other faiths. Imagine Jews treated this way. You cannot imagine it; the profanity is too great. The silence of British Jews, who have the history, is also great.

Migrant Myths by Adam Ford
As part of her degree course, Kurdish migrant Filiz Celik researched the conditions that workers from overseas face in the United Kingdom. The full text of her study can be read here, but this summary by Adam Ford gives some idea of the reality behind the media-generated myths.

Tesco shareholders reject TV chef's chicken welfare call
Tesco shareholders today voted against a resolution from TV cook Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall which called for the retail giant to improve its chicken-rearing standards.

Academies expelled 10,000 pupils
Academies have been accused of excluding disproportionately high numbers of students after it emerged that they excluded nearly 10,000 pupils for poor behaviour last year.

Let companies run state schools for profit, says Sir Simon Milton
Private companies should be allowed to run state schools at a profit and be free to dismiss teachers who are not up to the job, the head of the Local Government Association (LGA) said yesterday.

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