A UK Socialist's blog

England to sell eight times more council homes than it built last year, report finds

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/aug/20/england-to-sell-eight-times-the-council-homes-it-built-last-year-report-finds

London’s Trellick Tower. The Common Wealth report urged the state to buy back and restore homes sold off under right to buy. Photograph: Chris Morphet/Getty

Depletion of social housing stock spurs calls for councils to have first refusal to buy ex-council homes entering market

England will sell off more than eight times as many council homes in 2025-26 as were constructed the previous year, research has found.

Right to buy is depleting council housing stock more quickly than public housing can be replaced, forcing people to spend more money on private market rents and obtain less secure tenancies, a report from the thinktank Common Wealth finds.

Its analysis of government data in England found that 38,170 social homes and 2,850 council homes were constructed by the government in 2023-24. In 2024-25, 2,260 council homes were built. There were 13,966 sell-offs of council houses through right to buy in 2023-24 and 8,656 in 2024-25. An analysis in the i Paper estimated that 18,500 council homes will be sold off in 2025-26 – more than eight times more than the number built in 2024-25.

The report concludes that if the government wants to increase the supply of social rental housing quickly, it must invest in buying back and restoring homes sold off under right to buy, alongside more council housebuilding.

Adam Peggs, the report’s author, said: “We need to pull every effective lever we can find to expand public housing. Council housing gave people secure, low-cost homes in the past. With the right framework, it can give people high-quality, genuinely affordable homes, with real democratic voice in the future too. But we need to build the political will to make it happen.

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Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/aug/20/england-to-sell-eight-times-the-council-homes-it-built-last-year-report-finds

Continue ReadingEngland to sell eight times more council homes than it built last year, report finds

EXPOSED: Britain First’s “March for Remigration” led by convicted people smuggler

https://hopenothate.org.uk/2025/08/19/exposed-britain-firsts-march-for-remigration-led-by-convicted-people-smuggler

HOPE not hate can reveal that Lee Twamley, photographed at the front of Britain First’s “March for Remigration” in Manchester this month, has served prison time for trying to smuggle Vietnamese migrants into the UK. 

In recent months, the flagging fascist group Britain First has tried to revive its fortunes by shifting away from elections towards public protests. Under the slogan “March for Remigration”, a euphemism for mass deportations, the group has held a series of events that have brought an assortment of neo-Nazis, misogynists, crackpots and convicts onto the streets of Nuneaton, Birmingham and, on 2 August, Manchester. 

This included Lee Twamley, snapped marching alongside Britain First leaders Paul Golding and Ashlea Simon at the forefront of the Manchester event, holding a Union Jack flag aloft. 

Convicted people smuggler Lee Twamley (circled) at Britain First’s “March for Remigration” in Manchester, 2 August 2025 (Picture: HOPE not hate)
Convicted people smuggler Lee Twamley (circled) at Britain First’s “March for Remigration” in Manchester, 2 August 2025 (Picture: HOPE not hate)

However, we can reveal that Twamley was previously jailed for 20 months as part of a Salford gang that tried to smuggle 11 Vietnamese migrants across the Channel to pay off drug debts. 

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Article continues at https://hopenothate.org.uk/2025/08/19/exposed-britain-firsts-march-for-remigration-led-by-convicted-people-smuggler

Climate science denier Nigel Farage explains that it's simple to blame asylum-seekers or Muslims for everything.
Climate science denier Nigel Farage explains that it’s simple to blame asylum-seekers or Muslims for everything.
Keir Starmer refuses to be outcnuted by Nigel Farage's chasing the racist bigot vote.
Keir Starmer refuses to be outcnuted by Nigel Farage’s chasing the racist bigot vote.
Continue ReadingEXPOSED: Britain First’s “March for Remigration” led by convicted people smuggler

Keir "I support Zionism without Qualification" Starmer supporting genocide.
Keir “I support Zionism without Qualification” Starmer supporting genocide.
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel's Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don't do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
Vote Labour for Genocide.
Vote Labour for Genocide.
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Morning Star Editorial: The far right has now won a significant victory against asylum-seekers

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/far-right-has-now-won-significant-victory-against-asylum-seekers

 Police officers outside the former Bell Hotel in Epping, July 31, 2025

MONDAY’S High Court decision, that asylum-seekers must be removed from the Bell Hotel in Epping, has been correctly described by Stand Up to Racism co-convener Sabby Dhalu as a “terrible concession to racist protests organised by fascists.”

The injunction granted to Epping Forest District Council was on the basis that hotel owner Somani Hotels Ltd was in breach of planning rules since the Bell was no longer strictly a hotel. 

But, during the court proceedings, the council’s legal team focused on claims that the presence of asylum-seekers at the hotel posed safety risks to children attending nearby schools and contributed to local unrest.

Protests, and anti-racist counter-protests, have been held near the hotel following an allegation — not yet proved in court — that a then-resident of the hotel attempted to kiss a local teenage girl. 

Those fascist-organised protests, playing on whipped-up concerns of local residents, show an uncanny resemblance to lynch mobs by segregationists in the Southern states of the US in the past. And whether the allegation is true or not, targeting all the residents in the hotel is a racist act.

So fascist-organised protests rule the streets, OK? Anti-racist campaigners will need to be vigilant. As Dhalu added, the decision “will embolden the far right and encourage yet more protests to close down more hotels housing refugees.”

And that is precisely what has been happening since the judgment. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has hailed the court decision as a “victory,” indicating that the 12 councils where Reform is the largest party will “do everything in their power to follow Epping’s lead.” Tory-controlled Broxbourne council is also considering taking similar action.

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Government policies have effectively abandoned people fleeing war and persecution. We need safe routes for asylum-seekers to reach Britain, together with a compassionate approach to housing, the opportunity to work and fair, rapid decisions on their asylum applications.

But we must also stand up to the far right and the fascists, including via the “March against Fascism — Stand up to Tommy Robinson” in London on September 13.

Article at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/far-right-has-now-won-significant-victory-against-asylum-seekers

Nigel Farage blames the Muzzies.
Nigel Farage blames the Muzzies.
Keir Starmer chases Nigel Farage's racist bigot vote.
Keir Starmer refuses to be outcnuted by Nigel Farage’s racist bigot vote.

Continue ReadingMorning Star Editorial: The far right has now won a significant victory against asylum-seekers

Government urged to drop ‘parasitic’ private contracts as rail fares set to soar

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/government-urged-drop-parasitic-private-contracts-rail-fares-set-soar

 People using a ticket machine at Waterloo train station in London

THE government was urged to ditch “parasitic” private contracts today after it emerged that regulated train fares in England could soar by 5.8 per cent next year.

This year fares went up 4.6 per cent — one point higher than last July’s retail prices index (RPI).

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The government is set to renationalise all train operators by 2027 and integrate them into Great British Railways, a new public body which will also oversee rail infrastructure.

However GBR will continue to lease rolling stock, carriages and locomotives, from private firms. Outsourced contracts, such as those for cleaning staff, are also set to remain.

A spokesperson for rail union RMT said: “Our analysis shows that £720 million is extracted each year from our railways through rolling stock leasing, outsourcing and subcontracting.

“Eliminating that profiteering would allow fares to be cut by 6.5 per cent.

“The government has an opportunity under GBR to remove these parasitic contracts that drain resources from the network and instead offer real value for money for passengers through public ownership.”

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Original article at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/government-urged-drop-parasitic-private-contracts-rail-fares-set-soar

Continue ReadingGovernment urged to drop ‘parasitic’ private contracts as rail fares set to soar