The ward has eight side rooms all with ensuite accommodation, three single sex four bedded bays and one single sex two-bedded bay, all with ensuite.  To minimise the spread of infection, the whole department is finished in hygienic materials and a specialist wall and door finish, normally only used in operating theatres, pharmacies or other clean environments.  A variety of air flow technology is being used enabling different levels and forms of ventilation and the air flow technology in the isolation rooms creates an air curtain around the rooms, allowing them to be fully protected.

Brandon Lewis said “ This is the most modern ward in the East of England and the team are rightly proud of it.  What shines through from the team from the Chairman, Chief Executive and Director of Nursing and patient care is the passion to look after their patients. That is what our health needs desire and in our James Paget hospital we have a team who seem to 'get that' and act accordingly for the best interest of their staff and the patients in their care.”

After dinner, Eric Pickles Chairman of the Conservative Party and Member of Parliament for Brentwood in Essex gave a fantastic speech.  Eric congratulated the Great Yarmouth Conservatives on the results of June 4 and said if anyone wants to see the front line of politics for the general election then Great Yarmouth is the place to be.   

In Great Yarmouth the Conservatives now hold seven out of the nine county council seats.  Eric said  “these results show that the path to change is coming to Great Yarmouth and that the hard work at grassroots must go on to ensure that Brandon Lewis is the next Member of Parliament for Great Yarmouth and that David Cameron is our next Prime Minister.”

Brandon Lewis said “ the annual dinner was a huge success and it was a brilliant opportunity to meet and hear Eric speak in our local area and I would like to thank him for taking time out of his very busy schedule to come spend time with us”.

Brandon Lewis said “this is a great opportunity to hear the Chairman of the Conservative party speak in our local area.”

Surge in council tax appeals in Great Yarmouth reveals systematic over-charging by Government

Gordon Brown and his Ministers are deliberately covering up serious problems over the banding of homes for council tax, Brandon Lewis, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate, warned this week. New figures have revealed that Whitehall’s council tax snoopers have been forced to redo the council tax bands of thousands of homes after appeals by householders across Great Yarmouth and the country.

·         Official papers from Gordon Brown’s council tax inspectors, the Valuation Office Agency, have admitted that many homes are in the wrong band for council tax and families have been paying over the odds for years. Accidentally leaked minutes have confessed that if the tax errors became known, the Government would lose money and would have to pay tax refunds. This was also ruled out since it would generate “adverse press coverage… in the current climate”.

·         The combination of a campaign by ‘Money Saving Expert’ Martin Lewis, the publication of these leaked minutes and an ITV Tonight documentary, has produced a surge in council tax appeals. Now Parliamentary Questions have forced the Government to publish detailed figures on the changes to council tax bands.

·         In the last three years, 190,000 existing homes have had their council tax band changed: 133,985 homes have moved down a band. In Great Yarmouth, 191 homes have moved down a council tax band as a result of appeals. This proves there are serious and systematic errors in the banding of homes, which Ministers have been covering up to save money.

·         Wales has been used as a test-bed for a council tax revaluation. Three times as many homes moved up a band as down. Yet since that 2005 revaluation, a succession of errors has also been uncovered with the Valuation Office Agency’s work. To date, 1 in 20 homes in Wales have had their post-revaluation banding corrected. A wholesale council tax revaluation has thus caused more problems than it solved.

Brandon Lewis said:

“We now have clear evidence of a council tax cover-up. The Labour Government has been caught red-handed fiddling council tax to make families in Great Yarmouth and across the country pay more. Whitehall bureaucrats know that many homes across the country are wrongly banded, but have refused to correct the tax inspectors’ errors to save the Government money and save face.

“The whole basis of our tax system is undermined if the state conspires to over-charge the public. Labour Ministers only want to reform the council tax system if it rakes in extra cash for Gordon Brown’s coffers.”

Posted by Brandon Lewis , Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Great Yarmouth, Tuesday, May 26 2009

Tobias Ellwood MP visited Great Yarmouth on Thursday and it was a great chance to publicise all that we have to offer in Great Yarmouth and also remind people how important tourism is to our local economy and for the wider UK economy.

In Great Yarmouth tourism brings around £400,000,000 into the economy and is the largest employer and the largest industry in Norfolk.

Tourism is the 5th largest industry in the UK and we are the 6th most visited country in the world, which is an amazing fact to bear in mind.

It was good to hear Tobias outline that the Conservatives, via the localism agenda, are looking to move more powers to the local authorities to work with the tourism industry and motivate them to help and support tourism.

Then funding that currently gets filtered through a whole range of bodies including RDA's will be given directly to the industry that needs it. Local councils will have more powers to protect, develop and support tourism.

At a time when more people are looking to holiday in the UK and when 80% of tourism is internal we must bear in mind that we have much work to do to ensure we promote ourselves properly with a joined up and realistic approach.

This means asking ourselves tough questions about what our branding should be and who we should be working with to ensure our areas are well promoted and represented. In Great Yarmouth we are already working hard to that cause and are looking forward to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

Theresa Villiers MP visited Great Yarmouth yesterday to look at the area’s transport needs.

Theresa visited the A47 and discussed the issues surrounding the road and the need for a dual carriageway, the congestion problems at the Gapton Hall roundabout and the need for a 3rd river crossing. She also visited Great Yarmouth train station to see what improvements are needed there for better integration to encourage tourist visitors to the area.

Brandon Lewis said “It is important we make our case for government support for improved transport infrastructure and Theresa’s visit was a great opportunity for us to show the transport problems we have here in Great Yarmouth.”

Understandably all politicians are getting a hard time as they campaign on the doorsteps at the moment. Like everyone else I am angry and disgusted at the behaviour of some Members of Parliament at Westminster.
It will take a new generation of MP’s to bring an end to the cosy arrangements that allowed individuals to apparently profit from the tax payer.
I want to set out how I would behave differently as Great Yarmouth’s MP.

· I will be completely open about all of my expenses and allowances, publishing full details every year.
· I will only claim expenses for costs I have incurred in doing my job as an MP (e.g. travel costs and office allowances).
· I will never employ members of my family.
· I will be a full time Member of Parliament.
· I will act with honesty, integrity, openness and candour at all times.
· I will serve all my constituents, regardless of their politics.
· I will always put the interests of Great Yarmouth first.

All those involved in politics need to concentrate on rebuilding the trust of voters. That is why I am being open and clear with people in Great Yarmouth. I hope others will follow my lead.

Brandon Lewis, this week gave his backing to new plans to increase openness across local government, Whitehall and Parliament – to help rebuild the public’s trust and confidence in politics, and to ensure proper accountability for the way their money is spent.

·     Under a national Conservative blueprint for local government, councils – including Great Yarmouth Borough Council – will be required to publish online details of all expenditure over a set limit, detailing all payments for goods and services. This has already been done by Boris Johnson in London’s City Hall (publishing information on items over £1,000) and by Conservative-run Windsor & Maidenhead (publishing figures over £500). This would bring one of the biggest shake-ups to town hall accountability since Margaret Thatcher championed a Private Member’s Bill in 1960 which forced councils to open their meetings to the press and public.

·     This greater transparency and accountability would help reduce wasteful expenditure, saving taxpayers’ money. Both local residents and local newspapers could scrutinise this new information, creating a new citizen-led financial discipline on local government.

·     At the same time, there should be greater openness in central government. Under new Conservative plans for a ‘People’s Right to Know’, every single item of central government spending over £25,000 and all public sector salaries over £150,000 would be published online. Furthermore, as part of a package of measures to clean up MPs’ expenses, all claims made to the Parliamentary Fees Office would be published immediately online as they are made.

Brandon Lewis said:

“Almost fifty years ago, Conservatives made councils hold their meetings in public. This transformed local government for the better. In the 21st century, we should go further and use the power of the internet to shine the light on public spending and help improve value for money. Greater openness, in both local and central government, is vital to help restore the public’s trust and confidence in our political system.

“At a time when the public finances are so tight, every penny counts and openness will impose a citizen-led financial discipline to Great Yarmouth Borough Council, Whitehall departments and Parliament. The public should have a right to know how exactly their money is being spent.”

Brandon Lewis said “Potters is the UK’s only 5 star holiday village and this is a great opportunity to promote the holiday village and Great Yarmouth”.

Brandon Lewis, Prospective MP for Great Yarmouth , this week called for wasteful government spending on advertising and public sector consultants to be cut – in order to free up funds to help freeze council tax bills in Great Yarmouth. Local taxpayers in Scotland have benefited from a council tax freeze yet again this year.

·         Soaring council tax under Labour: Council tax in England has rocketed by 105% - or an extra £726 a year - since Labour came to power. In Great Yarmouth, council tax bills have risen by 139% a year. But Scotland is enjoying another council tax freeze this year; council tax bills are now £265 a year less in Scotland than in England on a Band D home.

·         Conservatives pledge to freeze council tax: A Conservative Government would follow the Scottish example and work in partnership with local councils, giving them extra support so that they can freeze council tax bills. Over two years, new analysis shows that this would save a typical family in Great Yarmouth £223 in tax. The cost to central government of reducing council tax would be met by spending less on government advertising and on public sector consultants.

·         Wages of spin: Despite the strain on public finances, government advertising shot up by 20% in 2008 alone. The Government is now the second biggest advertiser in the UK, just behind Procter & Gamble. Public relations, marketing and advertising now costs the taxpayer a colossal £400 million a year. Gordon Brown spent £54 million more of taxpayers’ money on advertising in his first year than Tony Blair in his last year. The Government is also planning to spend £4 billion on consultants over the next 3 years.

·         Wasteful advertising: Conservatives have put together a dossier highlighting examples of wasteful advertising, including: spinning a new ‘policing pledge’ at a time when many police forces are cutting police officers; running a ‘minimum wage Battlebus’ that only tours Labour areas; designing animated cartoons to sell discredited ‘eco-towns’; export campaign adverts that run in Britain rather than abroad; and neighbourhood policing adverts explicitly intended to prop up Labour’s local elections campaign.

 Brandon Lewis said:

“Under Labour, council tax has soared across the country, pushing up the cost of living and hiking bills in Great Yarmouth by 139%. Families and pensioners facing the economic squeeze just cannot afford yet more tax rises from Gordon Brown. If Scotland can freeze council tax for its residents, so can we south of the border. It’s time to give Great Yarmouth a fairer deal.

“We can fund a freeze for hard-pressed council taxpayers by cutting Whitehall spending on government advertising and unnecessary public sector consultants. These changes will also help undo Labour’s damaging culture of spin and restore the integrity of civil servants in Whitehall.”

Brandon Lewis said "Vicky lives in the heart of the East of England.  She is a former investment banker and businesswoman turned campaigner and local councilor.  Vicky wants to get the best possible deal for the people and businesses of Eastern England and will make a superb addition to the Eastern Region MEP team."

Caister Lifeboat is the only non-RNLI lifeboat station in the country, has a 200+ year history and gets about 50 call outs a year. They raise over £160,000 a year just to keep the service going, all the lifeboat men are volunteers and their passion for serving the local community is commendable.

To support them or to look at their set up go to www.caisterlifeboat.org.uk

Baton twirling  has a huge following and is a large and growing sport that is often overlooked.  We are hosting the European championships in England next year and the World Championships in 2014 and at present the English Baton Twirlers are  looking for suitable venues for 2014.

Brandon Lewis said
"Baton Twirling was a sport I knew little about before meeting Mike Deeks, but once he showed me the level of international support it gets and some footage of top rate baton twirlers I could see just how talented and athletic the practitioners are.  It is a sport that needs to raise its profile and hopefully today by meeting with Hugh Robertson MP we have done just that. Hugh Robertson MP was very positive and suggested that the English Baton Twirlers form a unifying governing body to help their cause."

Brandon Lewis, Conservative Party Candidate for Great Yarmouth, this week, published new figures showing the extent of the collapse in the housing market across Great Yarmouth. This comes as new Government red tape will push up the cost of moving home – in the middle of a recession.

• Parliamentary Questions have revealed that across the country the number of housing sales in 2008 halved compared to 2006 levels. The latest national figures so far for 2009 show even sharper falls have happened this year. In Great Yarmouth, there were 1,130 housing sales in 2008, compared to 2,361 in 2006 – a fall of 52%.
  
  
• Yet new Whitehall rules will make it even harder for home buyers and sellers. The Government’s Land Registry is hiking fees in July to register a new home or to buy an official property search. Ironically, the Land Registry are blaming the recession for forcing them to put up prices as housing transactions have fallen so much, cutting their income.
  
  
• The increases in the costs of official searches will in turn increase the cost of the already expensive Home Information Packs (HIPs). This comes as new HIP rules came into effect in April which will further hinder sellers from putting their homes onto the market.
  
  
• Conservatives are calling on the Government Ministers to use their emergency powers to suspend HIPs immediately, and then abolish them completely. They are also calling for the stamp duty threshold for first-time buyers to be raised to £250,000, taking 9 out of 10 first-time buyers out of stamp duty altogether, giving an important boost to Great Yarmouth’s housing market.

Brandon Lewis said:"
The new figures expose how Gordon Brown’s recession has sent Great Yarmouth’s housing market into freefall. It is incredibly short-sighted for Labour Ministers to increase red tape on the housing market in the middle of a recession and make it even worse."

"We need action to revive the market, by reducing moving costs for home owners and giving extra help to help first-time buyers get onto the housing ladder."

Brandon Lewis, potential MP for Great Yarmouth, has called on local people to throw their support behind the RSPCA during this RSPCA Week.

The RSPCA is a registered charity which seeks to prevent cruelty, promote kindness and alleviate suffering of animals. Its £82 million annual running costs are funded exclusively by voluntary donations and legacies.

This year’s RSPCA Week will run from 27 April to 3 May 2009.

Brandon said:
"This year will be the 15^th RSPCA Week – to mark this anniversary I hope that local people in our area come out and support the hard work of the local RSPCA and their volunteers. The heritage of Great Yarmouth is linked with animals of all kinds, including greyhounds, who often end up in the care of the RSPCA. The staff and volunteers at East Norfolk RSPCA perform an important service to our community and it is our responsibility to support them."

"The East Norfolk RSPCA branch consists not only of a shop on Caister Road but also a much needed clinic for sick animals. The clinic provides free care for animals looked after by those on benefits. There is no doubt that this charity deserves our support in these difficult times."

They visited the CCTV office on the High Street, which is manned entirely by 16 local volunteers and funded by bids and donations.  The Police and the volunteers work closely and effectively to fight crime on the High Street.  Crime has fallen by a substantial amount since the cameras have been in operation.

Chris Grayling MP, asked one of the volunteers what her finest moment has been since starting work in the office and she told how she had worked with the police and local shops, and this week and her actions led to the Police being able to make an arrest.  Brandon Lewis said this is a great example of how, when the police and the community work together, a real difference can be made.

Superintendent Jim Smerdon and Officers later explained how the football project Kickz, which is run in conjunction with Norwich City Football Club has helped reduce crime in the Southtown and Cobham area by up to 25% since it started.  There are now over 100 young people in the area involved in this scheme which runs three nights a week.

Brandon Lewis said "Yesterday was an excellent opportunity to show Chris Grayling MP what superb work our police force in Great Yarmouth can do, imagine what they can achieve if we can ensure they the higher amount of resource and support that they need form government. There is some really good and forward thinking work being done to help anti social behaviour and offer new opportunities for the youth in our town."

'Tragedy': Job losses at a dock workers firm have been criticised.

LAURA BAGSHAW

24 April 2009

PORT workers and Great Yarmouth's MP have criticised the axing of skilled port workers months before the commercial launch of Great Yarmouth's £50m outer harbour.

The announcement that a third of jobs at EastPort Cargo Handling - formerly Great Yarmouth Stevedoring Company and a subsidiary of EastPort UK - have been shed, has cast a shadow over what the outer harbour can deliver for the town.

Today, union officials and representatives from Eastport UK will meet to discuss working arrangements for the remaining dock workers, which will also involve the services of ACAS, the independent conciliation body.

Cutting the 16-strong workforce to just 11 was tagged “a tragedy” by union official Victor Brazkiewicz at a time when the expectation was that more jobs were being created.

The Mercury understands the longest serving dock worker out of the five had worked at the company for four years.

Mr Brazkiewicz, the Unite regional industrial organiser, said many members had been campaigning for a new outer harbour for years, if not decades.

He said: “The company's attitude is one of paying lip service to the union and its members during this tragic redundancy development.

“The union has also been heavily committed in promoting the outer harbour, and good industrial relations. Our efforts and those of other organisations, local government, East of England Development Agency and MPs resulted in millions of pounds of taxpayers' money being put towards this development.

“It is now a tragedy that some of our members face unemployment and little prospect of other work, with redundancy pay at an inadequate basic level.”

Expressing his disappointment over the job losses MP Tony Wright said he was aware that ports around the country were facing difficult times in the recession and that Yarmouth was not immune to that.

He said: “It's certainly difficult times but perhaps they could have looked long term at this. Millions are being spent on the outer harbour and I'm sure the port will want as much business as it can get, but if you want that business then you need the workers to deal with it.”

Mr Wright said stevedoring - labourers who load and unload vessels in a port - was a skilled job and Yarmouth needed experienced workers to make the outer harbour a success.

John Fuller, director at Yarmouth fertiliser company J&H Bunn which uses the services of local dock workers, said: “Obviously there are always regrets when a company has to tighten its belt but Eastport is still very much in business and I'm sure they will be able to continue to support us.”

The Mercury telephoned EastPort UK for a comment from chief executive Eddie Freeman at Wednesday midday but by the time of going to press yesterday, we had not had a reply.

Some of the biggest users of Yarmouth port have expressed concern over the redundancies.

Great Yarmouth Port Users' Association represents about 30 businesses in and around the harbour.

Chairman Mike Gouldby said: "It is regrettable this situation has developed at a time when all of our members, as well as the community, were looking forward to growth in business and employment.

"While we acknowledge that ports in general are experiencing a significant downturn in business, it must be remembered that a significant part of the revenue from the existing 'river port' continues to be generated from the energy sector which, although a little subdued, remains quite buoyant.

“The public funding package obtained for the outer harbour was obtained primarily to enhance the existing facility in order to accommodate the larger offshore vessels associated with construction, decommissioning and recommissioning, wind energy and a roll-on roll-off ferry service.

"As far as our group is aware, the outer harbour facility has been procured to enhance the total offer which 'our port' can offer existing and new customers and definitely not to replace the existing river port. Therefore it is disappointing to learn of redundancies instead of job increases."

He added: “Our group has recently met with EastPort, Tony Wright MP and the Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate, Brandon Lewis, to offer the combined knowledge and experience of our membership so that the admirable efforts of the funding partners can

be maximised for the benefit of

local business and increased employment. We look forward to establishing a more meaningful dialogue.”

The Mercury telephoned EastPort UK for a comment from chief executive Eddie Freeman on Wednesday at midday but by the time of going to press yesterday, we had not had a reply.

The first vessel to enter the outer harbour is likely to be the biggest ever to visit the port. The 234m Zhen Hua 6 is scheduled to complete its marathon journey from China via Hong Kong, around South Africa's Cape of Good Hope, on May 1, when it docks in the harbour to unload two giant cranes for the container terminal.

The vessel, the most recent of six designed specially to carry container cranes, is currently in the Canaries but should be visible, mooring off the coast, from about April 26.

A team will be flying in from China to install the cranes, together worth about £7m, in a commissioning process likely to take two months.

The harbour is expected to launch its commercial trade in July when larger vessels servicing the offshore industry begin to use it.

Work on the harbour has been protracted by the decision, announced last August, to build an extra 350m of quay to handle general cargoes, and contractors Edmund Nuttall are now expected to be still on site until December.

Brandon Lewis has demanded that Government Ministers reassure schools and colleges across Great Yarmouth, facing cuts to their funding because of Whitehall blundering.

Sixth form cuts: After telling schools and sixth form colleges how much funding they would receive next year for teaching 16-18 year olds, the Learning and Skills Council, a government quango suddenly changed its mind. It failed to predict the number of students accurately. It has now cut school budgets across the country by up to £350,000 for sixth form colleges and £55,000 for an average school. Brandon is demanding action to ensure that local schools and sixth form colleges in Great Yarmouth will not have to turn away students next year because of this gross bureaucratic incompetence.

College building cuts: This latest catastrophe comes just weeks after the Government froze 144 further education college building projects, including Great Yarmouth College. Brandon is calling on the Government to come clean about what will happen to these projects.

Together, these Government blunders could deprive thousands of young people of the opportunity to study. 

Brandon Lewis commented:
“Just a month after reassuring schools that they would be fully funded, the Government has pulled the rug from under their feet. Because of Whitehall incompetence, schools and colleges are being forced to turn away thousands of sixth formers who are desperate to learn and acquire the qualifications they need to succeed.

“Further education colleges have also been plunged into financial turmoil by having their building projects frozen. This is yet more proof that the Labour Government is failing to deliver and can’t be trusted with taxpayers’ money.”

Brandon said:
“The Minister, Stephen Timms MP, claimed on the 11^th march that he had not heard of me in a debate at the House of Commons: see here. However, apart from previous correspondence, I have now received a letter from HMRC dated March 24^th and claiming they have been asked to reply to me by Stephen Timms, based on a letter dated February 25^th. So I am forced to ask if Mr Timms has such a short memory, or if he is so uninterested in the jobs here in Great Yarmouth that he simply did not care enough to remember?”

“With the current economic climate we need to keep jobs in Great Yarmouth and encourage more, so to have our own government taking them away to Norwich is more than frustrating. They claim in their letter that jobs will not go as they will have staff relocate from Great Yarmouth. Mr Timms and HRMC seem to not want to listen to the people who work at Havenbridge House as when I met them they were very clear that many could not commute to Norwich and that they had taken jobs here in Great Yarmouth at Havenbridge Hose so that they could be near home as they may have children or be carers themselves."

"To force people to commute to Norwich is not only wrong and likely to lead to these jobs leaving Great Yarmouth residents all together it is also unfriendly to the environment. It could lead to more road travel for anyone who did commute at higher cost of transport and to the environment, the use of train and bus is almost impossible due to the poor and expensive service to Norwich, which again does not help the environment. We need to keep the pressure on HMRC and government to let them know that Great Yarmouth will not just roll over and be forgotten.”

Brandon Lewis, Prospective Conservative MP for Great Yarmouth, welcomed plans for a radical overhaul of housing policy, thirty years on from the unveiling of the Right to Buy, which transformed council estates.

Under new Conservative proposals, tenants in social housing across Great Yarmouth are to be offered the chance of genuine social mobility and equality of opportunity. Pride will be restored to local neighbourhoods, helping address anti-social behaviour and encourage social responsibility. Local homes will be built for local people, with the community – not bureaucrats in Whitehall – having the final say on the homes they want.

This comes as the latest analysis shows as the average house in Great Yarmouth costs £144,568, compared to average earnings of £24,352. This means that the average house is 5.9 times average earnings.

The detailed proposals include:

• Rewards for good behaviour: Offering tenants with a record of five years’ good tenant behaviour a 10% equity share in their social rented property, which can be cashed in when they want to move up the housing ladder. This will give tenants a direct financial stake in the state of their neighbourhood, and reward law-abiding citizens who pay their rent on time, keep their garden tidy, and ensure their children stay out of trouble. By contrast, Labour policies reinforce and reward welfare dependency.
  
  
• A ‘Right to Move’: Introducing a comprehensive national mobility scheme for good tenants who wish to move to other social sector properties, and piloting a scheme which allows good social tenants to demand that their social landlord sell their current property and use the proceeds, minus transaction costs, to buy (and thereby bring into the social rented sector) another property of their choice – anywhere in England.
  
  
• Cutting waiting lists: Relaxing the rules that prevent thousands of habitable empty properties being used to house those on local authority waiting lists. 5328 people are currently on the waiting lists in Great Yarmouth, an increase of 314% since 1997.
  
  
• Local Housing Trusts: Allowing villages and towns to create entirely new community-led bodies with planning powers to develop local homes for local people, provided there is strong community backing. Affordable homes built by Local Housing Trusts will remain in local ownership in perpetuity, ensuring that future generations can benefit.
  
  
• More family homes and stopping garden grabbing: Reversing the classification of gardens as brownfield land, and allowing councils to prevent over-development of neighbourhoods and stop 'garden grabbing', which has resulted in a glut of flats, the demolition of suburban family homes and concreting over of their gardens.
  
  
• Incentives not top-down targets: Scrapping regional planning, which could lead to poor decisions on areas such as Fritton Woods, and enabling councils to revise their current local plans to protect Green Belt land and prevent the unwanted imposition of so-called eco-towns. Instead, councils will keep more of the proceeds of new house building from council tax receipts, giving incentives to support new sustainable development.

Brandon Lewis said:
“Given the average house in Great Yarmouth is almost 6 times average earnings, we need to do more to help people get on and move up the housing ladder. We need social housing which promotes opportunity and social mobility, rather than reinforcing welfare dependency. We must also champion the vulnerable and help the people on housing waiting lists.

“I welcome the plans to give an equity stake to social tenants. It will reward the socially responsible citizens who pay their rent on time and keep their kids in check, and help restore a sense of pride to all our neighbourhoods.”