Emma Reynolds MP, Labour’s Shadow Housing Minister, responding to today’s statutory homelessness figures which show a rise in the number of families accepted as homeless, said:

“These figures show the scale of this Government’s failure to tackle the housing shortage which is central to the cost-of-living crisis. It is a tragedy that so close to Christmas thousands of families are without a home.

“David Cameron has broken his promises to tackle homelessness.  Rising housing costs and low pay have made it more and more difficult for people to stay in their family home and the Government’s failure to build the affordable homes we need and policies like the Bedroom Tax have made things worse.

“Labour is committed to raising living standards for all by building more homes, raising wages, getting a fairer deal for private renters and abolishing the unfair Bedroom Tax.”

Bach handed shadow attorney general role | News | Law Society Gazette

Bach handed shadow attorney general role | News | Law Society Gazette

Congratulations to Willy Bach!

Many congratulations to Willy Bach of Lutterworth Branch on his recent appointment to the post of Shadow Attorney General.

Amanda Hack, Labour PPC, meets local people of Lutterworth

Amanda Hack, PPC for South Leicestershire, and Labour party members met locals at Lutterworth town hall on Saturday, 29th November for coffee and a chat.

Coffee morning with Amanda Hack, Labour PPC for Lutterworth

On Saturday, 29th November, the CLP held a coffee morning at Lutterworth town hall, where our PPC, Amanda Hack, was able to meet and chat to constituents. There was a good deal of interest, and people were keen to discuss issues such as housing, rents, jobs and pay. We all wish Amanda the very best in her campaign to become the MP for Lutterworth.

Dismal failure of Customs and Revenue

I found an interesting snippet in the report of Margaret Hodge's Public Accounts Committee for September 10 2014.

I'm sure we've all heard reports that HMRC is doing much better at making the tax-dodgers cough up.  Well, not quite,

It turns out they made a trivial error of a mere £1.9 billion when setting the baseline against which their performance could be judged.  Thus in 2012, 2013 and right up until this summer, they were boasting they had exceeded their targets by miles when in fact they only just about scraped past the line.  As a result George Osborne and the Treasury team have repeatedly misled parliament.  Usually, I'd relish the chance to berate George for telling whoppers, but in this instance he was lied to first.  And if you can't trust HMRC to do a simple adding up exercise...

We all know that Farage and UKIP want to privatize the NHS because he has publicly said so.  David Cameron and his on-the-run Tories aren't so upfront.  But they want to privatize just the same.  They want to flog off the last of our national crown jewels for a short-term gain and long-term pain.  And the rubbish Health and Social Care Act (HSCA) is their vehicle for doing so.  Never heard of it?  No, Tory newspapers like the hideous Daily Mail and media like Sky haven't exactly been headlining it.

For the avoidance of doubt, let's be clear: Labour is pledged to repeal HCSA.  It really is that simple.