There’s been a bit of twitter shower, bit less damp than a twitterstorm about Labour’s policy on Rent Controls. I reflect on the correspondence here, but have also storyfy’d it here. Earlier today Mark Ferguson of Labour List, tweeted,
@Markfergusonuk Diane Abbott backed it on C4 news the other week - so sub-category of Lab (prospective London mayoral) policy?
— Rafael Behr (@rafaelbehr) January 25, 2014
#fab14 is the Fabian Society’s New Year Conference; Mark followed it up with an article at Labour List
Is Labour now in favour of rent controls? http://t.co/I0QjTChLkG
— LabourList (@LabourList) January 25, 2014
in which he adds that Rent Controls was the most popular policy in the “Dragons Den” event. The hope for those of us who feel it’s warranted, necessary and popular was squashed by Emma Reynolds, who’s replaced Jack Dromey as Labour’s Housing spokesperson
.@EmmaReynoldsMP that’s a shame. If hand in hand with increased house building I think it’d be popular and right…
— Mark Ferguson (@Markfergusonuk) January 25, 2014
I joined in, as did others,
RT @EmmaReynoldsMP: To be clear Mark & others, it is not Labour party policy to introduce rent controls. @Markfergusonuk < Shame!
— Dave Levy (@DaveLevy) January 25, 2014
They’ve got to learn that the Labour Party’s policy is not made by the PLP front bench.