There are times when a government resignation may feel unfair – when a minister has carried the can for a mistake not entirely of their own making. And there are times when a resignation may command respect – when a minister decides that they cannot, in all conscience, support a particular government policy. Neither applies to the resignation on Thursday evening of Rushanara Ali, the minister for homelessness.
Ali was caught bang to rights for conduct as a private landlord that flew in the face of her ministerial brief for addressing homelessness, and of specific reforms she was introducing as part of the Renters’ Rights Bill that is currently completing its passage through parliament. She was found to have given tenants of a four-bedroom townhouse she owned in London’s east end notice to quit, only to relist the £850,000 property a little later at a rent £700 a month higher.
Under the legislation as it stands, there is no illegality here. She gave her tenants due notice, the house was put up for sale, and relisted for letting – at an increased monthly cost of £4,000 – only when it did not immediately sell.
But this is precisely one of those practices that currently places renters at such a disadvantage vis-a-vis landlords. Labour’s new legislation will require a gap of at least six months between removing tenants and re-advertising the tenancy at a higher price. The point is that even if there was no actual breach of the law on Ali’s part, there was a glaring clash of standards and more than a whiff of hypocrisy.
Here was the homelessness minister, renting out an expensive London house, seeing off her tenants, and seeking a £700-a-month rise in rent. It is not good enough to say, well, that’s just the London rental market for you, that is how it works. By virtue of her ministerial position, Ali was not just another London landlord. And the mismatch between her fortunate position in the housing market and her ministerial duty to improve the lot of those without any home to go to was stark.
Homelessness and the acute shortage of affordable housing, especially but not exclusively in and around London, is one of today’s most pressing social issues, and one that this government has set as a priority. Figures from March this year showed more than 130,000 people in England living in temporary accommodation – a record – and rough sleeping also showing a sharp rise. Few would suggest that Ali should be donating her house to homeless people rather than letting it at a commercial rate, but her lack of awareness is striking. With no apparent sensitivity about the intersection of her private and public lives, it could be argued that she was at the very least in the wrong job.
Whether she jumped or was pushed after the revelations hardly matters. This is a situation that should never have arisen and it can only add to the entirely avoidable harm that this Labour government has inflicted on itself.
Sleaze and a widespread perception of double standards was a big – and possibly fatal – liability for the Conservatives in the last election. And when Labour cruised to its landslide, there was an enthusiastic welcome for a government that, it was hoped, would exercise power with the cleanest of hands. Such expectations, however, were soon dashed.
Along came the procession of claims about lavish freebies from donors enjoyed by leading members of the new front bench, from designer clothes to weekends in New York and tickets to shows. Reports about Angela Rayner buying her council house under the Right to Buy scheme hardly helped. Again, this was not because there was anything illegal, but because of the dissonance it exposed between her own actions in the past and the policy she espouses in government, which is to impose sharp limits on sales of social housing.
The disillusionment that rapidly set in only reinforced an already widespread distrust in politicians and fuelled a view that “this lot” were no better than the last. And while it would be quite wrong to tar all, or even most, politicians with the brush of being self-seeking money-grubbers intent on feathering their own nests, instances where MPs can claim large amounts for their housing, heating and other costs from the taxpayer, even as they may be letting out homes they own and snagging freebies, do the reputation of government and parliament no favours.
In the case of Rushanara Ali, there is another, party political aspect. She won her east London seat of Bethnal Green and Stepney last year with a majority of only a little over 1,000. Given current trends in UK politics, her seat is highly vulnerable to challenges, most likely from an independent – probably Jeremy Corbyn’s new Your Party. In this respect, what has happened has the potential to inflict a triple whammy of damage on the Labour government.
It weakens its claim to be the champion of the homeless and those generally in housing need. It reinforces the idea that Labour is no better than the Tories when it comes to sleaze and self-interest – and it could make it even harder for Ali to retain her seat at the next general election, so increasing the risk for Labour of seeing its 2024 landslide turned to defeat in 2029.
