The government has been accused of “betraying renters” on the fifth anniversary of a “failed” promise to ban no-fault evictions – as figures suggest that over 80,000 households have been put at risk of homelessness since then.
Former Conservative prime minister Theresa May made the pledge to scrap Section 21 (S21) notices on 15 April 2019 and it was also in her successor Boris Johnson’s manifesto.
A Section 21 order allows landlords to evict tenants with just two months’ notice, without providing a reason for doing so.
Housing campaigners say they are a major contributing factor to rising homelessness.
Analysis of government data by the Renters’ Reform Coalition (RRC) has found that since the promise to ban S21s was made, at least 84,460 private renting households have claimed homeless prevention support after being issued with the notice.
Campaigners believe the true number of “no-fault” evictions served will be much higher, as the data only captures those who claimed council support.
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Tom Darling, campaign manager at the RRC, said: “It is absurd that the government has now officially taken five years to deliver these basic reforms – that’s longer than Brexit took.”
He said S21s “have led to real human suffering and damage” and there could be “millions of other renters who have been evicted but haven’t ended up calling their local authority”.
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‘Revenge eviction’
Tom Cliffe, 34 was issued with a Section 21 last July after complaining for 18 months about disrepair to his property in Ealing, west London, where he was paying £1,000 a month in rent and bills.
He believes it was a “revenge eviction” as his four other housemates were not served the notice – and he was not given a reason as to why he received one.
Image: Tom Cliffe was served a no-fault eviction after complaining about disrepair
Tom, who works in the film industry, spent months and “upwards of £2,000” trying to fight the eviction, but has given up as “everything was weighted in the landlord’s favour”.
“It’s been a huge, huge turmoil,” he told Sky News.
“I have made a home here for six years. I have taken so much care to treat the property well, I have always paid my rent on time.
“To be turfed out by your landlord on a whim when you’re in your 30s and it’s so hard to buy, it’s really upsetting.”
“It all just feels a bit corrupt. The fact that so many MPs are landlords, it seems fairly obvious that this is influencing the [S21] delays,” Tom said.
Gove ‘sold renters down the river’
Housing Secretary Michael Gove pledged to ban S21s through the long-delayed Renters Reform Bill, which was introduced to parliament in May and seen as a “once-in-a-generation” shakeup of renters’ rights.
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‘No one should face eviction for speaking out’
But last month he was accused of “selling renters down the river” and conceding to the landlord lobby after it was announced that the power to issue them would remain in place until an assessment had been made to see if courts could handle the change.
Some MPs had warned getting rid of no-fault evictions will increase pressure on the courts, as landlords will need to go through a legal process to regain possession of their properties when they have legitimate grounds to do so.
Other changes to the bill included an amendment to prevent tenants ending contracts in a tenancy’s first six months. Originally the bill proposed allowing renters to end a tenancy with two months’ notice at any point.
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‘I was evicted and I became homeless’
Campaigners have warned this will trap renters in unsafe and falsely advertised tenancies, benefitting “rogue landlords” – as well as risking harm to victims of domestic violence.
The RRC wants to see the bill strengthened to include an increase in eviction notice periods from two to four months, to give renters enough time to find a suitable place to live.
They also want a protected period of at least two years during which renters cannot be evicted under the new no-fault grounds and a limit on rent increases within a tenancy, to stop landlords using rent hikes as a de-facto no-fault eviction.
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Labour accused the government of an “utter betrayal of renters across Britain”.
Shadow housing secretary and deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “Hundreds of thousands of people have been put at risk of homelessness since that hollow promise five years ago. There are kids now in school that weren’t even born when the Tories first promised this.
“Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives always choose party before country, it is in their DNA. Only Labour will immediately ban no-fault evictions, no ifs no buts.”
A Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities spokesperson said: “We are committed to delivering our landmark Renters (Reform) Bill that will provide a fairer private rented sector for both tenants and landlords.
“The bill will abolish section 21 evictions – giving people more security in their homes and empowering them to challenge poor practices.”
Donald Trump’s trade war escalation has sparked a global sell-off, with US stock markets seeing the biggest declines in a hit to values estimated above $2trn.
Tech and retail shares were among those worst hit when Wall Street opened for business, following on from a flight from risk across both Asia and Europe earlier in the day.
Analysis by the investment platform AJ Bell put the value of the peak losses among major indices at $2.2trn (£1.7trn).
The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite was down 5.8%, the S&P 500 by 4.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average by just under 4% at the height of the declines. It left all three on course for their worst one-day losses since at least September 2022 though the sell-off later eased back slightly.
Analysts said the focus in the US was largely on the impact that the expanded tariff regime will have on the domestic economy but also effects on global sales given widespread anger abroad among the more than 180 nations and territories hit by reciprocal tariffs on Mr Trump‘s self-styled “liberation day”.
They are set to take effect next week, with tariffs on all car, steel and aluminium imports already in effect.
Price rises are a certainty in the world’s largest economy as the president’s additional tariffs kick in, with those charges expected to be passed on down supply chains to the end user.
The White House believes its tariffs regime will force employers to build factories and hire workers in the US to escape the charges.
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The latest numbers on tariffs
Economists warn the additional costs will add upward pressure to US inflation and potentially choke demand and hiring, ricking a slide towards recession.
Apple was among the biggest losers in cash terms in Thursday’s trading as its shares fell by almost 9%, leaving it on track for its worst daily performance since the start of the COVID pandemic.
Concerns among shareholders were said to include the prospects for US price hikes when its products are shipped to the US from Asia.
Other losers included Tesla, down by almost 6% and Nvidia down by more than 6%.
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PM: It’s ‘a new era’ for trade and economy
Many retail stocks including those for Target and Footlocker lost more than 10% of their respective market values.
The European Union is expected to retaliate in a bid to put pressure on the US to back down.
The prospect of a tit-for-tat trade war saw the CAC 40 in France and German DAX fall by more than 3.4% and 3% respectively.
The FTSE 100, which is internationally focused, was 1.6% lower by the close – a three-month low.
Financial stocks were worst hit with Asia-focused Standard Chartered bank enduring the worst fall in percentage terms of 13%, followed closely by its larger rival HSBC.
Among the stocks seeing big declines were those for big energy as oil Brent crude costs fell back by 6% to $70 due to expectations a trade war will hurt demand.
The more domestically relevant FTSE 250 was 2.2% lower.
A weakening dollar saw the pound briefly hit a six-month high against the US currency at $1.32.
There was a rush for safe haven gold earlier in the day as a new record high was struck though it was later trading down.
Sean Sun, portfolio manager at Thornburg Investment Management, said of the state of play: “Markets may actually be underreacting, especially if these rates turn out to be final, given the potential knock-on effects to global consumption and trade.”
He warned there was a big risk of escalation ahead through countermeasures against the US.
Sandra Ebner, senior economist at Union Investment, said: “We assume that the tariffs will not remain in place in the announced range, but will instead be a starting point for further negotiations.
“Trump has set a maximum demand from which the level of tariffs should decrease”.
She added: “Since the measures would not affect all regions and sectors equally, there will be winners and losers as in 2018 – although the losers are more likely to be in the EU than in North America.
“To protect companies in Europe from the effects of tariffs, the EU should not respond with high counter-tariffs. In any case, their impact in the US is not likely to be significant. It would be more efficient to provide targeted support to EU companies in the form of investment and stimulus.”
British companies and business groups have expressed alarm over President Donald Trump’s 10% tariff on UK goods entering the US – but cautioned against retaliatory measures.
It comes as Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds launched a consultation with firms on taxes the UK could implement in response to the new levies.
A 400-page list of 8,000 US goods that could be targeted by UK tariffs has been published, including items like whiskey and jeans.
On so-called “Liberation Day”, Mr Trump announced UK goods entering the US will be subject to a 10% tax while cars will be slapped with a 25% levy.
The government’s handling of tariff negotiations with the US to date has been praised by representative and industry bodies as being “cool” and “calm” – and they urged ministers to continue that approach by not retaliating.
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The latest numbers on tariffs
Business lobby group the CBI (Confederation of British Industry) said: “Retaliation will only add to supply chain disruption, slow down investment, and stoke volatility in prices”.
Industry body the British Retail Consortium (BRC) also cautioned: “Retaliatory tariffs should only be a last resort”.
‘Deeply troubling’
While a major category of exports, in the form of services – like finance and information technology (IT) – has been exempted from the tariffs, the impact on UK business is expected to be significant.
Mr Trump’s announcement was described as “deeply troubling for businesses” by the CBI’s chief executive Rain Newton-Smith.
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) also said the tariffs were “a major blow” to small and medium companies (SMEs), as 59% of small UK exporters sell to the US. It called for emergency government aid to help those affected.
“Tariffs will cause untold damage to small businesses trying to trade their way into profit while the domestic economy remains flat,” the FSB’s policy chair Tina McKenzie said. “The fallout will stifle growth” and “hurt opportunities”, she added.
Companies will need to adapt and overcome, the British Export Association said, but added: “Unfortunately adaptation will come at a cost that not all businesses will be able to bear.”
Watch dealer and component seller Darren Townend told Sky News the 10% hit would be “painful” as “people will buy less”.
“I am a fan of Trump, but this is nuts,” he said. “I expect some bad months ahead.”
Industry body Make UK said the 25% tariffs on cars, steel and aluminium would in particular be devastating for UK manufacturing.
Cars hard hit
Carmakers are among the biggest losers from the world trade order reshuffle.
Auto industry body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said the taxes were “deeply disappointing and potentially damaging measure”.
“These tariff costs cannot be absorbed by manufacturers”, SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said. “UK producers may have to review output in the face of constrained demand”.
The new taxes on cars took effect on Thursday morning, while the measures impacting car parts are due to come in on 3 May.
Economists immediately started scratching their heads when Donald Trump raised his tariffs placard in the Rose Garden on Wednesday.
On that list he detailed the rate the US believes it is being charged by each country, along with its response: A reciprocal tariff at half that rate.
So, take China for example. Donald Trump said his team had run the numbers and the world’s second-largest economy was implementing an effective tariff of 67% on US imports. The US is responding with 34%.
How did he come up with that 67%? This is where things get a bit murky. The US claims it studied its trading relationship with individual countries, examining non-tariff barriers as well as tariff barriers. That includes, for example, regulations that make it difficult for US exporters.
However, the actual methodology appears to be far cruder. Instead of responding to individual countries’ trade barriers, Trump is attacking those enjoying large trade surpluses with the US.
A formula released by the US trade representative laid this bare. It took the US’s trade deficit in goods with each country and divided that by imports from that country. That figure was then divided by two.
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So, in the case of China, which has a trade surplus of $295bn on total US exports of $438bn, that gives a ratio of 68%. The US divided that by two, giving a reciprocal tariff of 34%.
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PM will ‘fight’ for deal with US
This is a blunt measure which targets big importers to the US, irrespective of the trade barriers they have erected. This is all part of Donald Trump’s efforts to shrink the country’s deficit – although it’s US consumers who will end up paying the price.
But what about the small number of countries where the US has a trade surplus? Shouldn’t they actually be benefiting from all of this?
That includes the UK, with whom the US has a surplus (by its own calculations) of $12bn. By its own reciprocal tariff formula, the UK should be benefitting from a “negative tariff” of 9%.
Instead, it has been hit by a 10% baseline tariff. Number 10 may be breathing a sigh of relief – the US could, after all, have gone after us for our 20% VAT rate on imports, which it takes issue with – but, by Trump’s own measure, we haven’t got off as lightly as we should have.