More than 100 MPs earn over £10,000 a year as landlords

Published

2 weeks ago

April 24, 2024

admin

More than 100 MPs have earned over £10,000 a year as landlords over the course of this parliament, research from Sky News has found.

A total of 83 Tories have declared they received the sizeable rental payments since the last election in December 2019, along with 18 Labour MPs, four Liberal Democrats and one member of the SNP.

But many more could be benefiting from a smaller income as landlords, as MPs only have to publish it on the register of interests if rent tops the £10,000 annual figure.

The numbers come as the long-awaited Renters’ Reform Bill returns to the Commons on Wednesday, with campaigners demanding stronger action to make the market fairer for those renting their homes.

The majority of the MPs found in Sky News’ research were landlords of residential properties – with 104 of them having a stake in over 217 homes.

But 12 also let out commercial properties, 12 make an income from renting their farms, and one even leases a fishery.

A total of seven cabinet members made the list, with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt clocking up the largest portfolio – seven flats in Southampton, 50% of a holiday home in Italy and 50% of an office building in London.

Three shadow cabinet members also have the additional income – though no more than the single property owned by shadow foreign secretary David Lammy in Tottenham, London.

Vested interest of landlords

However, the MP with the biggest list of rental incomes was the Conservative member for Sedgefield, Paul Howell, who lists two flats in County Durham, five houses in Durham, nine houses in Darlington and an apartment in Spain on his register of interests.

None of this breaks any rules for MPs, as long as they declare their interests.

However, the statistics come as a row rolls on between the government and campaigners over the influence of landlords on the Renters’ Reform Bill.

Research exclusively shared with Sky News last week showed almost one million private renters had been served a Section 21 since the Conservatives first promised to ban them in April 2019.

Yet, the government agreed to an indefinite delay to outlawing the mechanism, reportedly after a group of Conservative backbenchers – including some landlords – raised concerns the courts were not prepared for the legal cases that could replace them.

‘Colossal failure’

The chief executive of homelessness charity Shelter, Polly Neate said the legislation would be a “colossal failure” without the scrapping of no fault evictions at its heart.

“Tenants campaigned tirelessly to get this bill on the table, but this government has proven that renters’ safety and security is less important to it than bowing to the self-interests of a minority of landlord backbenchers,” she added.

“While ministers run scared of a few dozen of their own MPs, more than 500 private renters are slapped with a no-fault eviction notice every day.”

Speaking to broadcasters ahead of the legislation returning to parliament, Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove could not guarantee Section 21s would be banned before the next election – which has to take place by January 2025.

He insisted his “determination” to end them was “iron clad”, but it would depend on opposition parties and the House of Lords supporting the whole bill.

“It’s important to stress that the overwhelming majority of landlords are providing a very valuable service,” said Mr Gove.

He added: “It’s vitally important that after 30 years without legislation to improve the private rented sector, and with the private rented sector constituting nearly a fifth of housing overall, that we do ensure that it works effectively.

“And it’s not about pitting landlord against tenant, nor is it about demonising MPs of all parties. It’s about making sure that we have the balanced package that makes sure the private rented sector works for everyone.”

Bill ‘abolishes Section 21s in name only’

However, a spokesperson for campaign group Generation Rent told Sky News: “Efforts to maintain landlords’ power in the bill will undermine improvements that would benefit renters and ultimately improve the reputation of the sector.”

The Renters Reform Coalition, made up of 20 charities, also warned that, as the bill stood, it “abolishes Section 21s in name only”.

They added: “This legislation is intended to give the impression of improving conditions for renters, but in fact it preserves the central power imbalance at the root of why renting in England is in crisis.”

But the chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, Ben Beadle, supported the bill, saying it provided stability for both landlords and tenants, and would keep rental homes in the market.

“Greater security for tenants will mean nothing if the rental homes are not there in the first place,” he added.

Sky News contacted the Conservatives, Labour and the three MPs named in the piece, but did not receive a response.

A Lib Dem spokesperson said: “Time and time again the Conservatives have failed renters and acted against people’s interests.

“Lib Dem MPs in parliament have long fought for renters’ rights and will continue to do so.”

Politics

UK considered using Iraq to process asylum seekers in Rwanda-type deal, leaked documents show

Published

2 hours ago

May 6, 2024

admin

UK considered using Iraq to process asylum seekers in Rwanda-type deal, leaked documents show

The government at one point considered using Iraq to process asylum seekers – like the Rwanda scheme – according to documents seen by Sky News.

This could have seen people sent from the UK to a country the government advises against all travel to.

The two countries already have a returns agreement – but only for people that are from Iraq.

Politics live: Follow the latest updates here

According to leaked correspondence between high-ranking officials, the Iraqi returns commitments were made with a “request for discretion” and no publicity.

The country was willing to move forward but did not want a formal or public agreement.

The current travel advice to Iraq on the Foreign Office website simply advises against “all travel to parts of Iraq”. However, according to the document, negotiations were fairly advanced and described in one table as “good recent progress with Iraq”.

Other government aims included enhancing cooperation with the Iranian Embassy in order to enhance returns arrangements for migrants and potential asylum seekers.

Returns agreements are also in the works for Eritrea and Ethiopia, according to documents about work undertaken by the Home Office and Foreign Office that relates to countries with the highest number of nationals arriving to the UK by small boats.

In a tranche of internal government documents seen by Sky News, even from the earliest stage of the Rwanda policy, Downing Street advisers knew there were serious problems with their proposals.

There are even private admissions that many people arriving here on small boats did so without the assistance of criminal gangs – despite their communications strategy.

Comparisons were also made to Australia’s response – to what Downing Street officials understood to be a comparable “smaller problem” than in the UK and admitted it had cost billions of Australian dollars in order for their returns processes to be fully operational.

In one document submitted to the Home Office, some of the highest-ranking officials at the time wrote that their guidance was to be “prepared to pay over the odds” to get the policy up and running. And that the initial offer from Rwanda was a “modest sum”.

Whitehall’s official spending watchdog has priced the cost of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda at £1.8m per person for the first 300 people the government deports to Kigali.

It also disclosed that since April 2022 the Home Office has paid £220m into Rwanda’s economic transformation and integration fund, which is designed to support economic growth in Rwanda, and will continue to make payments to cover asylum processing and operational costs for individuals relocated to Rwanda.

It will also pay further amounts of £50m over the next year and an additional £50m the following year.

👉 Listen above then tap here to follow the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts 👈

A government source said: “The Home Office is spending millions every day accommodating migrants in hotels – that’s not right or fair. We’re taking action to put an end to this costly and dangerous cycle. Doing nothing is not a free option – we must act if we want to stop the boats and save lives.

“The UK is continuing to work with a range of international partners to tackle global illegal migration challenges. Our Rwanda partnership is a pioneering response to the global challenge of illegal migration, and we will get flights off the ground to Rwanda in the next nine to eleven weeks.”

Politics

Bitfinex database breach ‘seems fake,’ says CTO

Published

23 hours ago

May 5, 2024

admin

<div>Bitfinex database breach 'seems fake,' says CTO</div>

Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino explained that if the hacking group was telling the truth, they would have asked for a ransom, but he “couldn’t find any request.”

Politics

Labour taking ‘Tory crown jewel’ feels like a momentum shift

Published

1 day ago

May 5, 2024

admin

Labour taking 'Tory crown jewel' feels like a momentum shift

It was a wafer-thin victory, but a huge win.

The symbolism of Labour taking the West Midlands mayor, a jewel in the Tory crown, could be felt in the room as Labour activists gathered in Birmingham to celebrate the win with their new mayor Richard Parker and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.

There are moments on election journeys when the momentum shifts – and this win felt like one of them.

“We humbly asked [the voters] to put their trust and confidence in a changed Labour Party and they did. And that is a significant piece of political history that we’ve made here today,” said Sir Keir at his victory rally.

“So the message out of these elections, the last now the last stop before we go into that general election, is that the country wants change.

“I hope the prime minister is listening and gives the opportunity to the country to vote as a whole in a general election as soon as possible.”

This win gave them the boost that was missing when they won the Blackpool South by-election on a massive 26-point swing, but then failed to pick up the hundreds of council seats they were chasing.

This win, on just 1,508 votes or 0.25 per cent of the vote, was a body blow for a Conservative party that believed they could just about cling on. Ben Houchen, the Tees Valley mayor, is now the last Tory standing.

For Labour, then a moment to bookmark.

Just as Boris Johnson’s Hartlepool by-election win in 2021 was a low point for Sir Keir – he told me this week that he considered resigning over the loss because he thought it showed he was the barrier to Labour’s recovery – this too will feel devastating not just for Andy Street but for the PM too.

Labour has beaten him in a street fight. He’s bloodied with Sir Keir now emboldened.

“This was the one result we really needed,” said one senior Labour figure. “It’s been our top focus for the past week and symbolically a very important win.”

And Labour needed the boost, because, as Professor Michael Thrasher pointed out in his Sky News’ national vote share projection calculated from the local election results, Sir Keir was not picking up the sort of vote share that Tony Blair was winning in the run-up to the 1997 Labour landslide.

His latest calculation of a 35% vote share for Labour and 26% for the Tories, put Sir Keir winning a general election but short of a majority.

What the West Midlands mayoral win did for Sir Keir was to give him a clear narrative that he is coming for the Tories and will do what he needs to take them down.

It raises inevitable questions about what is next for Rishi Sunak. The prime minister had nowhere to go today, not one win to celebrate. The worst performance in council elections in 40 years, was already pretty much as bad as it gets before the loss of Andy Street. The former Conservative mayor was magnanimous towards the prime minister, saying the loss was his alone.

But colleagues will not be so generous. One former cabinet minister said this loss was “devastating”. “We’re done and there’s no appetite to move against him,” said the senior MP. Many Tories tell me they are now resigned to defeat and believe Mr Sunak and his team needed to own it, rather than the rest of the party.

The coming days might be bumpy, the mood will be stony. But Tories tell me not much will actually change for them.

For Sir Keir, he now needs to sell not the changed Labour Party, but his vision for changing the country. The West Mids mayor’s win was dazzling, but it could have so easily gone the other way. And as Mr Sunak fights to survive, Labour still has to fight hard to win.