Council leader criticises minister over housing claims

Labour's Steve Reed calls for more affordable housing

The Leader of Lambeth Council, Steve Reed, has backed Ken Livingstone's call for a Government minister to face the facts on council housing. Trade and Industry Minister Margaret Hodge called for a Britons-first policy in allocating council homes. But Councillor Reed said the Minister had got her facts wrong and that her comments were inadvertently playing into the hands of racists.

Cllr Reed said: "Lambeth has one of the highest levels of social housing in London, and one of the biggest immigrant populations. There is no way that new arrivals are given special treatment. Housing is allocated on the basis of need, and on no other basis. Politicians should not give credence to the falsehood spread by extremists that new arrivals are allowed to jump to the front of the queue. It's simply not true."

He added: "Of course local people want and need more social housing. The Labour Council that I lead is working to meet Ken Livingstone's targets for more social housing - targets that Lambeth's previous Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition simply ignored. We still need extra Government support to build more affordable housing, and I've been encouraged to hear the Housing Minister Yvette Cooper talking about ways that might happen. In the meantime, we need to face the real problem rather than scapegoat immigrants."

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