By Richard Johnstone | 29 September 2011
Shadow communities and local government minister Caroline Flint has pledged that a future Labour government would stop Housing Benefit going to landlords who house tenants in sub-standard properties.
Speaking on the last day of the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, Flint promised that Labour would better regulate the private rental housing market. She said that the party would ‘not ignore’ the more than a million rental properties that do not meet the decent homes standard.‘Under Labour, the private rented sector will be properly regulated, so every family that rents has security and choice,’ she told delegates.
‘It cannot be right that Housing Benefit continues to go into the pockets of landlords who have tenants in sub-standard properties.’
In her speech, Flint also criticised the government’s plans to reform local government finance, saying they were ‘cutting councils loose, leaving communities to fend for themselves’.
She said: ‘The Tories like to talk the language of localism. But it's a strange localism that imposes cuts that fall deeper and faster on local councils and communities, than on almost any central government department.’
The government proposes widespread reforms under the Local Government Resource Review, which include allowing councils to retain the business rates raised in their area.
Labour would seek ‘unity’ on local government finance reforms, and would campaign for ‘a funding system fair to everyone, and which reflects need, as well as encouraging growth’, she said.
