State may be given the power to seize empty properties

ACTIVISTS at the Labour conference yesterday voted in favour of introducing ‘Sovietstyle’ powers that could allow the state to seize private landlords’ properties.

They passed a motion that would hand the state draconian new powers to compulsorily purchase privately-owned empty homes or those deemed to be rented out by the ‘worst’ landlords.

The motion also demanded Jeremy Corbyn bringing in policies to ‘stabilise nominal house prices’ – which will hit homeowners.

and under the plans, all rents would be ‘affordable’ by using a calculation based on local incomes. There would also be open-ended tenancies making it harder to get rid of tenants.

The motion also demanded an end of the right to buy council homes, and the building of 2million council houses over the next 20 years. The radical ideas are now official Labour policy, although not all will inevitably be included in the next manifesto.

Tory vice chairman ranil Jayawardena said: ‘It is now official Labour policy for the state to seize homes from people. This is something akin to Soviet russia.’

The housing motion commits Mr Corbyn to no fewer than 32 different policies. These include the building of an average of 155,000 social rented homes a year, with at least 100,000 – two thirds – of these council houses.

The motion demands that all information about ‘land ownership, control, subsidies and planning’ should be published’.

It called on Mr Corbyn to ‘adopt a policy of ending, not suspending, right to buy … on day one of a Labour government’ and called for discounted homes for households on ordinary incomes and ‘first dibs for local people’.

The motion demands the compulsory purchase of empty private homes, including tower blocks in London, ‘as well as the worst private rented sector properties’.

Jeremy Corbyn appeared to row back on plans to abolish private schools. Delegates have voted to ‘integrate’ such schools into the state system but yesterday Mr Corbyn said on bbC radio 4’s Today programme: ‘We want to see a fair taxation system, which doesn’t… subsidise private education.’ Earlier this week, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell described scrapping private schools as ‘draconian’.