News from Westminster Labour

Westminster Tories spend £250,000 buying back flats they sold for just £25,000

Shirley Porter’s “Homes for Votes” scandal returns to haunt Westminster Conservatives

Westminster Conservatives have spent over £14 million buying back nearly 60 former Council flats sold by the Council in the 1980’s, including 8 flats sold by former Conservative Leader, Shirley Porter, as part of the Council’s illegal Designated Sales “Homes for Votes” policy. The former Council flats, which have cost Council Tax payers an average of £250,000 each, will be used to house families currently living in temporary accommodation. The Council aims to spend over £25 million buying back former Council flats over the next 12 months in an attempt to increase the number of affordable flats for rent in Westminster.

Labour Councillors say that the Council originally sold many of the flats over 20 years ago for £25,000 or less after the discounts which residents were able to claim under the Right To Buy and the illegal Designated Sales policy.

Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg, Leader of the Labour Group, said:

“The Conservatives’ housing policy is a complete shambles. After years of aggressively championing the sale of Council Houses at knock-down prices, including the illegal ‘Homes for Votes’ policy, the Conservatives have created a severe shortage of affordable homes for rent and are now being forced to buy back Council flats for ten times more than they sold them for. Shirley Porter’s ‘Homes for Votes’ policy has left an expensive legacy for Westminster residents who are continuing to pick up the bill for the Council’s illegal actions over the 1980s.”

“Following the disastrous and reckless investment of £17 million in now-failed Icelandic banks, paying a quarter of a million pounds for flats they sold for £25,000 confirms that the Conservatives have lost all contact with economic reality.”