@Victoria_Spratt
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Housing & society correspondent @theipaper Orwell Prize finalist 2023, 24 & 25. Author of TENANTS & We Were Promised The Moon. Please send me your stories!
London, England
Joined July 2011
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Housing Britain, my new series for @BBCRadio4, is now available to listen to
Part 1 is all about housebuilding. Why is it so difficult to build new homes? Is the environment - newts and bats - in the way? Will Labour meet its target?
Listen here 📻
bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002n7l…
In his @RestIsPolitics interview Burnham links fixing the NEETs crisis by supporting young people with national resilience and says government “will show the same boldness as it did on the triple lock with what Alan [Milburn] is going to recommend”.
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I understand that Laura Johnson, the former RBKC housing director whose actions were criticised in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry report, is no longer employed by the Barnet Group which recently gave her a permanent role as group director
Vicky Spratt retweeted
This has been the most extraordinary financial and judicial scandal that I’ve covered in my career. For eighteen out of nineteen traders convicted, it turns out they were falsely tried. There are still so many questions to be asked. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqgk…
A diagnosis can be a dead end...instead of labels, young people need more community, more exercise and space to build proper relationships...
I spoke to Professor Peter Fonagy about his landmark review of the prevalence of anxiety, depression, ADHD and autism for my column @theipaper
inews.co.uk/opinion/horrible…
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Kingspan faces €100m investor lawsuit in UK over alleged Grenfell Tower misconduct.
Sharedholders are suing the firm, arguing its behaviour damaged the value of their investments.
Link below (TW for image of the tower on fire)
Awaab’s law to be extended to the private rental sector - will mandate landlords to deal with issues quickly
Irrespective of tenure, all renters have the right to live in a safe and decent home and have complaints responded to in a timely manner.
Awaab’s Law is already helping to drive up standards in the social housing sector.
We’re now moving to extend it to private landlords so that England’s 11 million private renters can enjoy the same protections.
gov.uk/government/consultati…
Instead of cutting a brilliant show like Radio 4’s You and Yours in favour of the BBC more podcasts, why not turn it into a podcast with a video offer?
Genuine Q - some of these cuts seem very short-sighted and risk the BBC losing its genuinely unique public service offer.
Without it, what case is there for a public service broadcaster at all?
NEW: BBC cuts latest...
OUT - Long-running consumer affairs show You and Yours.
IN - tech and discussion podcasts.
The order has gone out from Matt Brittin - don't make content that only works on one platform.
Another grim day at the beeb.
theguardian.com/media/2026/o…
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EXC - Bleak new forecasts from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation suggest soaring energy and housing costs mean Labour could be set to preside over the worst parliament for living standards in modern history
theguardian.com/business/202…
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One senior Tory acknowledges this is mainly about trying to consolidate support in the south east, which is essential to overtaking Reform
"It may be only 5% of estates now but 30% worry about it, and in what's still a fight for survival, we need to secure those voters"
Nobody likes inheritance tax - but - if the state scrapped inheritance tax on family homes what incentive would there be for older people to sell homes that are too big for them?
In a housing market that is stalled and stagnating, partly because more people live alone, this could risk making Britain even more of an inheritocracy than it currently is
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Shadow housing secretary Katie Lam explains why stamp duty is the worst of all taxes.
In an exclusive interview with The i Paper, she said added: "I dislike basically all tax."
Read more: trib.al/VlVeGR0
Shadow Chancellor Andrew Griffith has told the Tory conference that he would "scrap unnecessary net-zero housing red tape" and cut the cost of "delivering and therefore buying a new home by up to £50,000."
How would the Tories guarantee that developers pass on these supposed savings to homebuyers?
And what about those new-build buyers who want solar panels and heat pumps and lower energy bills? Could cutting the requirement for building them in mean any savings just translated into higher bills for the homeowner?
Lots to say about Sanchez’s party’s struggles more broadly -but - a high profile eviction has essentially become a lightning rod and resulted in an election which shows how powerful housing is as a political force
Spain PM calls snap election after major protests over housing crisis bbc.in/4jEdocr
Interview with Tories’ Shadow Housing Secretary Kate Lam by @cazjwheeler
Stamp Duty is, increasingly, seen as a major sticking point in Britain’s housing market
Reform is knotty, though
Why stamp duty is the worst of all taxes, by Tory rising star trib.al/eGvPdme
Worth remembering that reforming renters rights was…a Tory policy which was…in multiple manifestos?
The Renters Reform Bill began life under Theresa May
From PA, at 5:26pm.
Katie Lam has suggested she would scrap the Labour Government’s Renters’ Rights Act.
The shadow housing secretary told a fringe event at the Tory Party conference that the legislation “has to go”.
From PA, at 6:13pm:
A Conservative source said she had been speaking in the broader context of the restrictions and challenges faced by landlords, and this was not a policy announcement.
Vicky Spratt retweeted
Eye-catching stat of the morning so far - luxury London house prices have almost halved in real terms (ie after inflation) since peaking in 2014, according to Savills bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Vicky Spratt retweeted
What’s the evidence on rent control?
I charted the findings from 112 studies:
Great for rent-controlled tenants ✅
But:
Pushes up rents for other people ❌
Pushes down new housing construction ❌
Pushes down building quality ❌
This question from @bbclaurak is critical as the political conversation about state support intensifies in Britain - millions of people who received Universal Credit are IN WORK…that tells us more about wages, and living costs, including housing, than the benefits system
“People have worked out how to game the [welfare] system”
#BBCLauraK asks Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch about her claim that people are “cheating” the benefits system and how many she thinks are doing so
bbc.co.uk/news/live/c8n5d3k4…
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EXC: Members of the Shadow Cabinet say Kemi Badenoch should abandon the Tory commitment to the triple lock.
💫”It’s unaffordable in the long term, of course we should keep our options open,” a member of the Shadow Cabinet told The i Paper. “I see why Kemi’s doing it, but I don’t think we should commit to it so far away from an election.”
💫Another member of the Shadow Cabinet warned the Tory policy commitment is unlikely to last until 2029, when the election is due, “unless a miracle happens and the public finances pick up. We’ve still got to find the money for defence.”
💫 But the timing of an election is exactly why Badenoch is sticking to her guns. Even though Andy Burnham and his No 10 team have spent most of the last month hosing down the idea of going to the country before 2029, the Tory leader and her key allies think the Prime Minister could call an election as soon as next May.
💫 The Conservatives are so concerned about an early election that Badenoch has instructed Tory MP Neil O’Brien to draft the party’s next manifesto.
💫According to an aide, Badenoch’s commitment to the triple lock is because she is “very hot on the idea of contribution”.
“It’s the idea that if you’ve paid in, then you have made a contribution and you shouldn’t be penalised for that and that is where we start when it comes to pensions,” the aide added.
💫 As the Tories gather in Birmingham instead of calling this a normal, workaday conference, the party is dubbing it a grandiose “festival of ideas”.
💫Last year, organisers held Badenoch’s keynote speech in a smaller side room to avoid embarrassing photographs of empty chairs, but this year she will deliver it in the city’s International Convention Centre’s 2,200-seater Symphony Hall.
💫This will be the first time a leader’s speech has been held there since former prime minister Theresa May memorably walked out to ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” in 2018.
💫Read the whole piece here: inews.co.uk/news/politics/ad…
