Government theft of another’s possessions is plain wrong

The attacks on landlords are coming thick and fast and no political  party is the landlord”s friend. However, the worst possible fate that could befall our businesses would be for us to have them stolen from us. Last week Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell proposed just this in an interview with the Financial Times. Click here

Julian Jessop, former Institute of Economic Affairs economist has now spelt out clearly what landlords amongst others would face under a Marxist Government in an excellent article for the Telegraph, Click here. As he states, a sustained attack on property rights is no way to run a prosperous economy. I would add that there is also the small matter that theft of another’s possessions is plain wrong and the Government should be protecting property rights; not ripping them up.

Landlords clearly need to wake up. Many seem to still be supporting Labour, have their heads in the sand or are in denial. I understand tribal loyalty towards Labour, having been brought up poor and having voted Labour for most of my life. But Labour is no longer what it was.

Of course, the Conservative Government has also behaved atrociously towards landlords who are its natural supporters. Their attacks have paved the way and emboldened the extreme left in this country through the confiscatory Section 24 and now the proposed introduction of indefinite tenancies which will mean property owners lose control of their own property. I have written to Tory MPs and the Housing Minister to urge them to reverse direction, but there is no sign they are listening.

This is the context in which Labour has felt able to propose the legalised theft which ‘Rent to Buy’ in the PRS would constitute.

Together with the proposed theft of 10% of large companies’ assets (the next stage will be another 10%; another stage will be the theft of smaller companies’ assets and so on), landlords should unite against these attacks.

There is no easy solution regarding which party to vote for, but it is very clear which party must be stopped if we don’t want to face mass confiscation of our businesses and property.