London's housing crisis is hitting Redbridge hard. The development on Britannia Music site is doing nothing to help.

This is my first blog of the new year and I hope you all had a good break over the festive period. In my last blog, I wrote about how the housing crisis is affecting the amount of homeless people there are living on the streets on Britain. As the Green Party candidate for Redbridge and Havering, I wish to express my frustration at a new housing development in Ilford. Just to give you a bit of background knowledge, property values in Ilford have risen by 5.71% in the last year, according to Zoopla, and by 24.53% in the past five years. Property industry giants Jones Lang LaSalle claim that of all the areas set to benefit from Crossrail, Ilford will lead the way in terms of price growth. Now, after securing a £25m loan from the Mayor of London's Housing Zones initiative, developers Durkan will be building 354 new homes on the Britannia Music site, which had been lying empty since 2007. Durkan's online advertisement trumpets: "stylish one, two and three bedroom apartments in a fantastic, well-connected location in the heart of Ilford, just 16 minutes by train to Liverpool Street station". This makes it abundantly clear that the developers' prime targets are not local residents at all, but city slickers, themselves priced out of central London.

I completely support the building of new homes in Ilford. However I am disappointed in the amount of genuinely affordable new homes that will be provided on the Britannia Music site. Out of those 354 homes only 93 will be classed as "affordable". That means that 74% of the homes on this site will not be affordable for Redbridge residents.  Further, given that a lot of the funding for this will come from City Hall, we know that the Mayor's definition of affordable is 80% of the market rate - which really isn't affordable at all for people on low and average incomes. According to the Centre for Cities Think Tank, a quarter of private renters in London claim Housing Benefit - therefore this development has the potential for making the benefit bill even higher. Sadly, most of the homes being built on this are for private rent. However our mayoral candidate Sian Berry has announced a policy whereby every private renter in London will automatically be part of a City Hall funded Renters Union that will provide advice and support including for the residents that will be living on this site. So under a Green administration at City Hall, we can really hold Durkan to account regarding the standards of these homes. 

I am disappointed though that the Labour-led Redbridge Council has completely backed this, given that their Housing Strategy document states that Redbridge is the most expensive Outer London Borough for Housing. As I said in my previous blog, If City Hall worked with Councils, Housing Associations and communities more and took a tougher stance on big developers, we could build more truly affordable homes for residents. This also shows why we need more Greens elected to City Hall and having more genuinely affordable homes built for residents in Redbridge and Havering will be one of my priorities if I am elected to the London Assembly.

The massive problem of homelessness in London and how we can together help eradicate it.

It's that time of year again. You're worried about last minute Christmas shopping, how drunk you'll get at the office Xmas party and of course the possible stress of preparing to see your family over the festive season. For London's 742 homeless (as of 2014) they don't have the luxury of worrying about these things. According to the Department for Local Government this is a 37% increase from the previous year. In a supposedly growing economy with falling unemployment this is an alarming statistic. In 2013/2014 111,960 households across the country applied to their local councils for homelessness assistance. A rise of 26% since 2009/10. Another recent report by Crisis showed that 21% of people that had their benefit sanctioned in the last year were made homeless as a result.

But the problem of homelessness goes much deeper than this. The people I mention above are part of what is called the "statutory homeless" which is officially counted by the government. This does not take into account the 'hidden homeless'. Think about some of the people you see at tube stations or outside the supermarket. According to a GLA report, between April 2014 and March 2015, 7,581 people were seen sleeping rough in London. This is an increase of 16% from 2013/2014.

It is hard to know exactly how many people are homeless at any given point. Independent research carried out for Crisis and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation shows that almost one in ten people in the UK say they have been homeless at some point. That's one in ten of you that read this. There are many complex reasons why people are made homeless. Alcohol and drug abuse, problems at home, a harsh rise in rent, losing their job, benefit sanctions etc. The fact that there are so many that are left for so long is just wrong.

So this all sounds like doom and gloom but what can be done. Well individually we can donate to brilliant charities such as Crisis and Shelter that specifically give advocacy and help to the homeless or individually we can help any homeless person we see by giving them food or a hot drink or by offering to take them somewhere they can get help. The problem is though we as a country are relying too much on individual generosity and charity to help homeless people. We all think we are helping when we do these things and in a way we are. But it is only a sticking plaster rather than a real solution to the homelessness crisis we are facing. The simple truth is, we need to build more social housing for these people to live in.

According to the Mayor's Office, a net of 68,000 new homes were built in London in the last three years. Almost 18,000 of which are apparently "affordable homes". This includes homes to buy. But as a lot of us in London are painfully aware, buying a home in London is rarely affordable. What it doesn't say in the report is how many of these affordable homes that were built were genuinely affordable social housing. What we need in London in particular is for City Hall to be tougher on big developers about the amount the social homes they build and work with councils and community groups more about the type of housing they need in their area rather than just meet the needs of big developers. We also need a genuine collective outreach team at City Hall to help the many homeless people that are being ignored and for central government to give City Hall the power to control rents in the private sector. Additionally, we need the change the culture and thinking in this country that just sees houses as assets to buy rather than a human right. But that is more of a long term aim.

Yes I'm a Green Party candidate for the London Assembly so naturally I will say vote Green in the next election to see proper action on housing and homelessness. Right now though you can individually and/or collectively lobby every level of government about this and support council tenants protecting their homes from being demolished and them being evicted. Currently there is a "Homes for All" campaign in Waltham Forest so that is something to get involved in. People of all political parties and none need to work together to eradicate homelessness once and for all and to not stand by on the other side while our fellow citizens suffer in silence. 

The Living Wage. What is it? Why is it important? What we can all do to make sure everyone is paid it.

According to the ONS, there are around 5.9 million workers in this country not paid the Living Wage.That is roughly a fifth of the workforce. That is scandalous in one of the richest countries in the world.  The Living Wage I’m talking about of course is the one that is defined by the Living Wage Foundation and not the government’s so called “National Living Wage” which is actually over £2 less an hour than the Living Wage in London. The Living Wage in London is £9.40 an hour and for the rest of the country it is £8.25 an hour and is calculated by independent economists as the average cost of living.

Whilst Labour have been rightly talking about the cut in Working Tax Credits next April which is set to make the lowest paid workers over a £1000 a year worse off, the elephant in the room is that a lot of these workers are still paid less than a wage they can live on. What the government have done is arbitrarily cut Tax Credits whilst raising the Tax Free Personal Allowance and creating this “National Living Wage” for anyone over 25 thus apparently making people better off. However this has been quickly rebutted by the IFS who have said their measures will not make the lowest paid better off.

What needs to happen is that every adult that works needs to get paid the Living Wage and anything else they need to cover the cost of living should be provided by Tax Credits. I include under 25s in this.  At the moment they are not even entitled to this new National Living Wage and have to settle for the derisory £6.50 an hour as a minimum whilst of course not being able to claim Working Tax Credits or Housing Benefit if they are under 21. But according to the Tory Employment Minister, under 25s are not worth this National Living Wage as they are not as “productive”. Obviously this is unproven nonsense and regardless of whether under 25s are as productive or whatever experience they have, surely everyone deserves a wage they can live on as a bare minimum.

And it is screamingly obvious that if the Living Wage was introduced as the minimum wage, Working Tax Credits costs to the taxpayer will lower naturally as people will claim less. People will also have more disposable income and this will help the economy as the minimum wage did when it was first introduced. And if there are small businesses or charities that can prove they can’t afford to pay their staff this, this is where Tax Credits come in to top up that staff’s income.

So what can be done to make sure everyone is paid it?

Well there are a number of things we can do. Support the Living Wage Foundation by helping them with their campaigns. Start a campaign in your local area to encourage businesses and councils to pay the Living Wage. What the Green Party will be doing as part of our campaign in the London Assembly elections is create “Calling Cards” to leave to staff in shops to tell us their stories about how low paid they are or what their working conditions are generally like. Putting real-life stories to this campaign will help gain support and pressure the government and businesses alike to pay their staff the Living Wage.  This is something that everyone, regardless of the differences in political views, can get behind.  So what are you waiting for?

My plea to the anti-austerity movement. Don't let your anger ruin what we are building and don’t defend the indefensible.

First of all can I say well done to the 60,000 largely peaceful demonstrators that made it up to Manchester over the weekend. There were some really creative protests such as an anti-austerity rave and a flash mob at Manchester Piccadilly train station to try and make it a fun and inclusive affair. However the protests were overshadowed by a group of idiots that threw an egg at a delegate of the Conservative Party conference, spat at a journalist as they came out of the conference centre and generally being quite aggressive towards the Conference delegates going in and out.

Yet I've seen quite a few people on the left defend this aggressiveness saying that what the Tories are doing is much worse and that the Tory member that got egged had it coming because he was goading the protesters by showing them pictures of Margaret Thatcher. But throwing an object at someone is assault and assault is obviously wrong and against the law, whoever the victim is. The first two articles I saw about the protest could barely get a paragraph in without mentioning the egging so well done to those for making the headlines about that rather than the importance of the protest itself.

Yes I don't expect the majority of the media to be onside with our movement, however by doing what they did, all that these idiots have done is give ammunition to the press to paint the left as militant thugs. Exactly how are we going to build a movement to beat the Tories if we put people off from joining due to this?

Am I making it worse by focusing on the minority of protesters behaving aggressively? I don't know. All I do know is the majority of the public don't really care about politics one way or another and that all they see in terms of the protests is the bitesize headlines and what exactly are those headlines going to be focusing on?

I get that there is a genuine heartfelt anger at what the Tories are doing and believe you me I, like many people, have been negatively affected by austerity. Here's an idea though. How about you channel that anger into positive action against the government. I know that the vast majority people within the movement do this and that there will always be idiots at protests who think they are being funny and clever when they assault someone. However, if you are serious about helping build a strong movement against the Tories, then cut out the puerile, immature and aggressive behaviour and don't create negative headlines that can be avoided. As Jez says, no personal attacks. Thanks and solidarity x.

P.S. Quick message to the police and the government. Please don’t in future intimidate innocent peaceful protesters by having snipers aimed at them. Ta.

Why the Trade Union bill is the biggest attack on workers in a generation and why we must all fight it.

Flashback to the 1970s and apparently the Trade Unions had control of the weak Labour Government. The 3 day weeks and rubbish piled up everywhere was because of constant strikes and lack of communication and negotiations between Government and Trade Unions. So something had to be done supposedly.

Enter stage Margaret Thatcher who basically sold us the idea that the Unions were part of “the enemy within”. So she bought in a raft of anti-union legislation that banned workplace ballots, stopped union members getting paid for going on strike and introduced notice periods for strike action. By the end of 18 years of Tory rule we had the strictest trade union laws in Europe. Whilst New Labour didn't really change anything in regards to Trade Union law, they did bring in a raft of measures that generally helped people at work including the minimum wage and Working Tax Credits.

So flash forward again and it is 2015. After a few years of Tory/ Lib Dem Government there had been a number of strikes in the education sector, the healthcare sector and of course infamous tube strikes because of a change in pay and conditions at work. So now with the Tories in government on their own, they are bringing in further anti Trade Union legislation. Their tightening up of Trade Union rights include a 50% turnout to make any strike eligible, at least 40% support for strike action in vital public services such as education and transport. Furthermore they are increasing the notice period at which you can call a strike from 7 to 14 days and the Government are going to allow companies to hire agency workers to replace striking staff. In addition if a Union official at a picket line isn't wearing an official armband, they could be fined up to £20,000.

So you may be thinking, well what is wrong with having at least half a union turnout to vote for a strike. It makes it more legitimate and the public will more sympathy with them. If the Conservatives actually believe a majority turnout means real legitimacy for a result of a ballot, why are the Local Elections and European Election results, with less than 40% turnout, legitimate? Also the Alternative Vote referendum had barely 30% turnout, yet the Conservatives at the time claimed that the result of that meant a majority of British people supported the current voting system. One rule for Trade Unions, another rule for the British Electorate it seems. Here’s an idea, if you want to increase voter turnout for Trade Union strike ballots, why not bring back workplace ballots or bring in online voting rather than arbitrarily having a minimum turnout. Personally I’d do the same for elections as well.

So increasing the notice period at which a strike can be called may seem reasonable as it means other workers not on strike can make contingency plans in regards to themselves getting into work. However sometimes negotiations take a while and things can be agreed at the last minute and most strikes are called off because of this. If you have to give more notice to strike then that gives the employees less bargaining power when fighting for their rights and means the employers call the shots. Employers bringing in agency staff to cover striking workers may again seem positive on the surface as the company don’t lose productivity and their business activities keep going so therefore this benefits the economy. However this is where the threat of strike action becomes completely pointless. If employers can replace staff like that just for going on strike then they are hardly going to care whether their staff go on strike and once again this gives Trade Unions pretty much no bargaining power when fighting to improve their members pay and conditions.

So to sum up. Yes strike action can annoy and affect a lot of people that are not Trade Union members. It means people are late or can’t get to work at all. However, the rights that we take for granted today weren't given to us willingly by employers and Governments. They were fought for by Trade Unions fighting for individual members pay and conditions as well as taking direct action collectively such as going on strike. Whether it is paid holiday, maternity leave, health and safety in the workplace, Trade Unions have benefited all of us. If we allow the Government to curtail Trade Union activity even more, there is nothing to stop them pursuing a race to the bottom on rights at work and who is going to be able to stand up for us then?

NB: For full disclosure, I am a member of Unite, which is the biggest Trade Union in the country. The Trade Union bill passed it second reading earlier this week. To help fight the bill, lobby your MPs and join the TUC’s campaign

Corbyn supporting Labour purgees don't despair. There is another option for you.

Well after a few months of trying to get people to support Jeremy Corbyn, I've been purged from the Labour Party. They've rejected my application to be a supporter. I joined in mid July. I have had many promotional emails from different candidates but no ballot and it took my brother phoning on Friday to confirm what I feared. And apparently you have to pay £10 to find out why. Isn't democracy wonderful?

Now there are those that will say that it's only fair that I got rejected as I am a member of the Green Party. I accept that but many other Corbyn supporters that joined have also been purged. Comedians such as Francesca Martinez, Mark Steel and even PCS union leader Mark Serwotka. These people are not members of any other political party so it is suspicious that they have been purged.

It's interesting though because a quick check from Labour HQ at the general election would have confirmed I was actively campaigning for the Greens yet that didn't stop them bombarding me with election literature and I'm sure come the next election, they'll do the same. My thoughts are if they don't want my support now, why should I support them in the future when it's convenient for them?

To fellow Corbyn supporters that have actually been unfairly purged I say this. There is a political party that will welcome you with open arms and that is actually united against austerity. Join the Greens because unlike Labour there is no risk of us ousting our leader for being too left wing.

If Corbyn does win the Labour leadership election, I genuinely wish his supporters in the Labour Party the best of luck in changing Labour into a bottom up movement that is democratic and makes them a force for socialism and equality again. It will be a massive struggle so be prepared to fight it out with the authoritarian blairites.  At the end of the day, I want see progressive socialist politics get more popular and I don't mind which vehicle it is driven in, hence I why I initially joined as a supporter to vote for Corbyn.

For now I'm focused on helping The Green Party's campaign for the City Hall elections next May and in particular promoting our #workfair campaign as part of it. Sounds interesting to you? Then join and be part of a real progressive change for London.

Three Months into a Conservative majority Government. What have we got so far?

So here we are. Three months in to a Conservative majority Government and all the media can talk about is "Corbynmania". But whilst everyone is finding as much dirt on Corbyn as possible, the Conservatives have been quietly getting on with some of the most controversial policies we've seen.

So I'm going to break down the bullshit Cameron talked about on a lovely video on his Facebook page when he marked the first 100 days of his government, staring at you with his cold dead eyes, talking about how his Government are a "one nation" Government providing security at every stage of your life. Yes I'm talking about YOU in particular.

He starts off by talking about education. Saying that by turning every failing school into an academy and giving the Government power over local authorities to do so, this will ensure that every child has the best start in life. Let's forget then that a recent report that said that almost half of academies are failing disadvantaged students. Also they don't have to provide support for SEN students because they can be selective about who they take in rather than meet the needs of local students as happens under local comprehensives. Given the new reliance on passing tests rather than teaching life skills as well as cuts in further education colleges along with maintenance grant scrapping at universities, what kind of security is that?

He then talks about making the NHS 7 a day a week service (it is already) and investing an extra 10 billion into it. He obviously leaves out the selling off of services to private companies and the closure of some hospitals due to PFI debts.

Furthermore he goes on to say about how by raising the minimum wage to a "living wage" of £9 an hour and by lowering the benefit cap, it will always pay to be in work and by increasing the tax threshold to the minimum wage he is creating a low tax, low welfare, high wage country. First off that living wage isn't a living wage. The current London living wage is £9.15 an hour. Secondly by scrapping working age benefits for 18-21 year olds and by excluding them from this living wage, where is the security for them? Also arbitrarily lowering the benefit cap at a time of ever rising rents will just lead to homelessness.

Speaking of homes, he says he is providing the security of home ownership for all by allowing Housing Association tenants to buy their own homes. What about a young person like me that just wants to be able to afford to rent? Or people that are on the social housing waiting list? Where is the security of being able to have somewhere affordable to rent?

Instead of building affordable homes he is just selling off social housing and cutting inheritance tax for home owners. You can see where his priorities lie.

And for the final stage of life, the Government say they will provide security by "triple-locking and increasing the state pension." Never mind that increasing the retirement age means future generations won't get this. Also no one seems to have noticed this but the Government are quietly dropping the cap on the cost of social care that they introduced in the last parliament. At every stage of life, Cameron seems to be giving with one hand and taking with the other. Apart from children and young people in which he is literally taking every opportunity they get and squishing it into the ground with his massive shiny spam-like hand.

Oh F**k, this sounds completely horrible. What can we do to fight it?

I'm glad you asked that. Very eloquently put aswell. As I mentioned in previous posts, join a trade union or a direct action groups or dare I say it a political party. Apart from the Tories obviously. Which would be a weird way to fight them. Unless you want to infiltrate them like they are doing with Labour. But they've gone so far to the right that trying to influence them is like a metaphor I can't come with right now. But anyway the point is, it's impossible to do so. I digress. We've fought back against  privatisation of our forests and national parks and the closing of certain A & Es. We can fight against some of these changes aswell. It will be a long hard slog, but f**k it what have we got to lose?