Last word on Labour?

The pageantry of our time honoured constitutional monarchy has been wheeled out for – perhaps – the last time in this, the longest, continuous era of Labour governance. So, what did the Queen’s Speech herald for the housing world in these final months before the General Election? Mark Cantrell reports

The line is drawn, but the sand is shifting, and many are predicting the demise of Labour after 12 years in power – the party’s longest continual period in government – but as any pundit ought to know political obituaries can be hard to pin onto the coffin lid.

That didn’t stop Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg MP from referring to “these dying days of the Labour government” in his response to the legislative programme laid out in the Queen’s Speech, calling it a “fantasy” from “a government that has run out of road”. He added: “Of the bills proposed in last year’s Queen’s Speech, just two had made it onto the statute book by May. This year won’t be any different.”

David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party was equally scathing, calling it “a Queen’s Speech which is just a Labour press release on Palace parchment” and asking “what is the point of this Government?”

Time will tell, but meanwhile the preliminary response from the housing world has been rather more business-like and welcoming. The legislative programme consists of 15 bills. Of these, perhaps five bills have more or less direct relevance to the activities of the sector.

The Child Poverty Bill was carried over from the last session, and to this we have new legislation in the Crime & Security Bill and the Energy Bill. The Flood & Water Management Bill has gained an urgent poignancy in the wake of the tragic floods in Cumbria. But the Personal Care At Home Bill has been raised to the fore in terms of headline response.

“We welcome the Government’s commitment to provide free care for thousands of vulnerable people. But the measures envisaged in this Bill quickly need to be broadened out beyond the relatively small number of people with critical needs,” said David Orr, NHF chief executive. “Unless the Government extends the expected scope of this Bill, thousands of people with care and support needs who don’t quite meet the eligibility criteria will receive no help at all.”

The NHF also had words on the Energy Bill, given the organisation’s longstanding campaign about pre-payment tariffs. Orr added: “We welcome the expected introduction of mandatory social tariffs to help vulnerable households with their energy bills. However, the Government must go further and outlaw the long-running pre-pay meter rip off, through which one million lower income households are charged more for their gas than anyone else.”

On the social care bill, the Local Government Association (LGA) expressed worry about an opening up of demand that may prove difficult to meet. “There are many people currently self-funding their care, who will inevitably wish to benefit from the proposal of free care,” said Councillor David Rogers, chair of the organisation’s community well-being board.

“The LGA is concerned that the Government’s estimates do not appear to have taken these people, or those who have never applied before, into consideration. The Government needs to demonstrate how the proposed £670 million in funding will be sufficient to meet this demand. Councils will be expected to find at least an additional £250 million per year to fund this new proposal. It is difficult to see how local government will be able to meet this new financial commitment unless government removes existing red tape and bureaucracy.”

Age Concern also welcomed the social care bill but said that it will be “essential that councils are properly funded to provide this care, so that there are no perverse incentives to either push older people into residential care homes earlier than needed or assess their needs as not critical enough to warrant free care at home”.

RICS expressed its disappointment that the Queen’s Speech had no specific provisions covering the private rented sector and proposed measures contained in the Rugg Review. Spokesperson Gillian Charlesworth said: “The introduction of standards and supervision in this sector is long overdue and RICS believes that now is the time to introduce measures, when many more people have to rely on renting.”

The package has been scathingly called Labour’s election manifesto, as if every other party isn’t gearing itself up for the hustings, and warned that it will receive a rough ride in Parliament in these coming months. Of course, given the nature of some of the bills, those who would become the next tenant in Number 10 might want to think carefully about how rough they play.