Kelly misses the point - again!

6.04.23pm UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 13th Feb 2007

Commenting ahead of Ruth Kelly's suggestion today of a new 'right to own' for social housing tenants to encourage them to buy as little as a 10% stake in their own homes, Ashford Liberal Democrat Spokesperson, Chris Took said:

"Yet again Ruth Kelly and the Government have shown that they do not live in the real world and instead live on planet Whitehall. In Ashford as elsewhere the real crisis in social housing is that so many more households are now on council waiting lists than when Labour came to power in 1997.

"None of the policies announced today will deal with that. In fact they'll make the problem worse unless more social homes are built.

"The Government should be investing in more social housing. Among other things, that means allowing councils to use right to buy receipts to build more homes for those currently without a place to properly call home."

"With so many developments in Ashford we need solid percentage targets that guarantee social and affordable housing in all major developments."