No more ‘something for nothing’, said Ed

It’s time to end the “something for nothing culture”, not just at the top but throughout society, said Ed Miliband in his speech at the Labour Party conference, presenting a vision of a welfare and social housing system that “works for working people” – great, says the social housing sector but we’ll need more homes to do it.

There’s nothing like confidence. The Labour Party leader Ed Miliband told delegates at the conference that the next Labour Government will face “tough decisions” and won’t be able to reverse “many of the cuts” made by the Coalition, but that it was time to “chart a new course” and “strike a new bargain in our country”.

In a speech that at times seemed to be aimed at David Cameron and his Cabinet colleagues as much as the party faithful gathered in Liverpool, Miliband’s tone struck a populist, but at times apologetic, note, conceding that the party had lost trust and vowing to regain that trust.

He appealed to the so-called ‘squeezed middle’ – or as he said “the hard-working majority” – even as he sought to convey a message of equality and just rewards for those who ‘put something back’ and decried a “something for nothing culture” symbolised as much by the banking crisis, the expenses scandal and phone hacking, as by the August riots.

“[W]e have allowed values which say take what you can, I’m in it for myself, to create a Britain that is too unequal,” he said. “The people at the top taking unjustified rewards isn’t just bad for our economy. It sends a message throughout our society about what values are ok. And inequality reinforces privilege and opportunity for the few.”

Miliband said that Britain was a country of “insiders” and that the “something for nothing” culture at the top had trickled down. He added: “And as young people confront the choices they have in life, they see routes to success today based on a wrong set of values.

The something for nothing of celebrity culture. The take what you can of the gangs. And in parts of some of our communities, a life on benefits ... We must never excuse people who cheat the welfare system. The reason I talk about this is not because I don’t believe in a welfare state but because I do. We can never protect and renew it if people believe it’s just not fair. If it’s too easy not to work. And there are people taking something for nothing.”

He went on to say: “Even after reforms of recent years, we still have a system where reward for work is not high enough. Where benefits are too easy to come by for those who don’t deserve them and too low for those who do. So if what you want is a welfare system that works for working people then I’m prepared to take the tough decisions to make that a reality.”

Moving on to social housing, he added: “Take social housing. When we have a housing shortage, choices have to be made. Do we treat the person who contributes to their community the same as the person who doesn’t? My answer is no. Our first duty should be to help the person who shows responsibility. And I say every council should recognise the contribution that people are making.”

Abigail Davies, assistant director of policy and practice at the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), said: "It might seem sensible and fair to prioritise people who work and contribute to society when it comes to allocating social housing, but most people would also say priority should go to those in housing need. The current system, set out under the last Labour government, allows councils to balance these things, and councils like Manchester are using this approach. But to go any further in prioritising workers or community activists requires he would need to scrap legislation which protects the most vulnerable. We would expect this to be fiercely contested."

The National Housing Federation (NHF) welcomed the proposal to look at how the allocation of housing could be broadened to cover a wider range of needs, including those in work, with David Orr calling it “fine in principle” but he added that it doesn’t address the “fundamental problem” – that housing, especially affordable housing is a “scarce commodity”.

“Mr Miliband needs to address the housing crisis and say what measures Labour in government would take to ensure new homes are built. Just talking about rationing an already scarce resource is not going to be enough,” Orr added. “[He] also talks about allocating social housing to good neighbours who look after their properties but of course the vast majority of tenants are already good neighbours, who take pride in their homes and are no more likely to be involved in bad behaviour than people in the private rented sector.”

The CIH’s Davies also expressed concerns about a “tacit acknowledgement of the millions struggling with unaffordable housing”. She said: "While it is good to hear housing mentioned prominently in the speech, we would have liked Ed Miliband to acknowledge the problems with the wider housing market more openly, rather than focus only on social housing."