MPs and councillors urged by Unite to make housing an election priority

22 January 2010

An acceleration in Britain's council house building programme will be centre stage at a meeting called by Unite, the largest union in the country, in Sheffield on Thursday, 28 January.

Unite has called the meeting of local authority councillors, who are Unite members, to campaign for the government to go 'further and faster' in its welcome programme of increasing the numbers of council, social and affordable housing being built.

With nearly two million households on the housing waiting list and the economic downturn, access to housing and preventing repossessions are key issues and will be centre-stage in the upcoming general election.

Other issues tackled by Unite local councillors will be fighting the BNP who try to build support by peddling racist myths about how council houses are allocated and exposing the Conservative housing agenda as geared towards the well-off and bad news for council tenants.

The Unite meeting will be addressed by housing minister, John Healey who recently doubled the government cash for new council homes and Unite deputy general secretary, Jack Dromey.

Jack Dromey said: 'In the run-up to the general election, it is important to highlight the achievements of the Labour government on housing and to expose the Tory agenda for what it is – an inheritance tax bonanza for those in stately homes and an end to security of tenure and soaring rents for the eight million who live in council homes.'

'Unite councillors are keen to build on the rapid progress on the housing front made by John Healey since he became minister and to reinforce the message that a comprehensive housing programme is one of the best ways to achieve sustainable economic growth, building Britain out of recession.'

Unite assistant general secretary for the Public Sector, Gail Cartmail said: 'It is a frightening delusion that the Tories or the BNP really care about working people seeking good, energy efficient council and social housing. The Tories are intent on a social engineering exercise that will benefit their natural supporters - the better-off - and the BNP is shamelessly using housing as a means to whip up unfounded resentment and prejudice.'

Unite is also holding a meeting of its parliamentary group and peers in the Portcullis House, Westminster on Tuesday, 26 January to push the issue of housing even higher up the political agenda.

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