LABOUR-led town halls are favouring foreign nationals for social housing over Brits, fresh data has revealed.
Fourteen of the top 20 councils that let a higher proportion of their social homes to non-UK nationals are Labour-run, five are Tory and one was Lib Dem.
RexAngela Rayner described a reform where applicants would be required to prove their connection to the UK for at least ten years as ‘rubbish’[/caption]
In the London borough of Brent, with a backlog of 28,000, 40 per cent of new tenancies in the year 2021/22 went to non-UK nationals.
In Lambeth, with 36,000 households waiting, 21 per cent of tenancies the same year went to foreigners.
It comes as Housing Secretary Michael Gove pledged to introduce a new rule that would see families with the closest ties to Britain and their local area first in the queue for a home.
In a major reform of the system, applicants would be required to prove their connection to the UK for at least ten years and the local area for at least two.
Labour initially dismissed the policy with deputy leader Angela Rayner, describing it as “rubbish”.
But just hours later shadow minister Peter Kyle said: “It is right that people who are in areas where there is a real challenge with housing know that housing does go to people who are already born and raised in certain communities.”
The Tory plans would also mean tenants with high incomes no longer qualify for social housing, to help homes go to those most in need.
Ministers also said tenants who are a nuisance to other neighbours face being evicted under a “three strikes and you’re out” policy and could be then banned from social renting for up to five years.
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