HANDS off our Homes! Kill the Bill! Homes for People! Not for Profit!’ chanted protesters yesterday on a 10,000-strong march through central London against the Tory Housing Bill.
There were lively Unite, Unison, GMB, NUT trade union contingents along with community organisations and delegations as the march proceeded to Parliament Square.
At a rally in Lincoln’s Inn Fields before setting off, Labour MP Diane Abbot told News Line: ‘This Bill needs to be killed because it will kill communities. If you earn over £40,000 your rent will go up in London. It’s a Bill that will attack council housing and lead to social cleansing in London.’
Islington artist Linda Markey said: ‘My family has lived in housing association property for 16 years. My three children have grown up in Islington. My husband is a freelance worker which means his income can vary from year to year.
‘The implication of the “pay to stay” policy might mean we have to leave our home and our community. The trade unions should take action and the councils should refuse to implement the Bill.’
GMB member from Enfield Brian Hebbs said: ‘I’m here to try to protect what social housing we have. The Tories are robbing the working class. The trade unions must take action. Personally, I’m for a general strike.
‘We need to organise with housing community groups to fight back on all levels. I live on a council estate. The Tories are taking away my home in London.’
Expressing her concern about ‘pay-to-stay’, Adult Education Unison member, Elaine Maffrett, said: ‘I’m a council tenant and I love my council flat, without it I don’t know where I’d be. I have teenagers and once they start work we face our rent going up from £650 a month to £2,300 a month.’
She added: ‘The unions should take strike action and the councils should take action. A general strike is a good idea to tell the Tories we are not putting up with it.’