Landlords who leave homes empty should have them taken away to help address the UK’s housing crisis, Labour leadership candidate Emily Thornberry has said.
In a fiery speech at a leadership hustings in Bristol, the shadow foreign secretary said there needed to be stronger legislation to punish wealthy landlords who let their properties sit vacant.
“We need to build more homes… and we need to do it by way of carrot and stick, so we need to have government money going in to building more affordable housing, social housing and council housing,” Ms Thornberry said.
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“But we also need a stick and we haven’t got a big enough stick at the moment.”
The Labour MP warned supporters that the UK risks “leaving a whole generation behind” because so many young people cannot afford to buy their own home.


1/10 Keir Starmer
The former director of public prosecutions undoubtedly has announced that he is standing for the leadership. He is highly-regarded by both left-wingers and centrists in the party. As Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary, he played a key role in the party’s eventual backing of a second referendum.
Before becoming an MP, he was a human rights lawyer – conducting cases in international courts including the European Court of Human Rights. Launching his bid, Starmer said that Labour must listen to the public on how to change “restore trust in our party as a force for good.”
A YouGov poll places him comfortably in the lead as the preferred candidate of 36% of party members
EPA

2/10 Rebecca Long Bailey
A key ally of the current left-wing leadership of the party, the Salford & Eccles MP is viewed in some quarters as the natural successor to Mr Corbyn and describes herself as a “proud socialist”. Highly regarded by the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell. She won also won plaudits for her performance filling in for Corbyn both at prime minister’s questions and during the general election debates.
The shadow business secretary grew up by Old Trafford football ground and began her working life serving at the counter of a pawn shop.
Launching her leadership bid, Long Bailey said the party needs to make the positive case for immigration as a “positive force.” She also broke with Corbyn over Trident, saying “If you have a deterrent you have to be prepared to use it.”
PA

3/10 Lisa Nandy
Wigan MP Lisa Nandy has announced she wil stand for the leadership. In a letter to the Wigan Post she said she wanted to bring Labour “home” to voters in its traditional strongholds who have abandoned the party. Nandy went on to say that she understands “that we have one chance to win back the trust of people in Wigan, Workington and Wrexham.” A YouGov poll shows that Nandy is the first preference for 6% of partymembers.
Getty

4/10 Emily Thornberry
Corbyn’s constituency neighbour and friend, Emily Thornberry, has been critical of the party’s Brexit stance, but has remained loyal to the leadership and has represented the Labour Party on various overseas visits.
The 59-year-old was brought up on a council estate near Guildford in Surrey by her mother when her father, a human rights lawyer and academic, walked out on his family. “I was born into the Labour Party,” she once said. “I was delivering leaflets by the age I could reach the letter box.”
First elected as MP for Islington South in 2005, the shadow foreign secretary has launched her bid for the leadership, but the party may be looking for a leadership outside its London stronghold.
After winning back her seat in same venue as Corbyn, she said: “We may be hurting tonight but we are not beaten. We will tell Boris Johnson no our fight is not over, our fight is just starting.”
Reuters

5/10 Angela Rayner – Deputy leadership
Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner has joined the contest for deputy leadership of the party. After ruling herself out of running for the leadership, the Ashton-under-Lynne MP launched her bid for deputy warning that Labour faces the “biggest challenge” in its history and must “win or die.” She is close with leadership contender Rebecca Long Bailey
PA

6/10 Rosena Allin-Khan – Deputy leadership
Shadow sport minister Rosena Allin-Khan said Labour need to listen with “humility” to lost voters as she launched her bid for the deputy leadership. Writing in The Independent, the MP for Tooting refelcted: “We shouldn’t have ignored the warning signs in Scotland, and now we’ve paid the price in northern England, across the midlands and in Wales.”
PA

7/10 Dawn Butler – Deputy leadership
Shadow women and equalities secretary Dawn Butler was first to announce her bid for the deputy leadership. The Brent Central MP has served in Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet since 2016
PA

8/10 Ian Murray – Deputy leadership
Labour’s only MP in Scotland said that the architects of the party’s “catastrophic failure” in the December election can not be allowed to lead the party forward
PA

9/10 Khalid Mahmood – Deputy leadership
Shadow foreign minister Mahmood said living in the West Midlands puts him in the ideal place to win back lost voters as he launched his bid for the deputy leadership. “I’m not part of the metropolitan elite but in Birmingham, the workshop of Britain. I want to rebuild our country and the Labour Party.”
PA

10/10 Richard Burgon – Deputy leadership
Shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon is standing as a continuity candidate, flaunting his loyalty to Jeremy Corbyn and saying it is wrong to blame the current leader for the election defeat
PA

1/10 Keir Starmer
The former director of public prosecutions undoubtedly has announced that he is standing for the leadership. He is highly-regarded by both left-wingers and centrists in the party. As Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary, he played a key role in the party’s eventual backing of a second referendum.
Before becoming an MP, he was a human rights lawyer – conducting cases in international courts including the European Court of Human Rights. Launching his bid, Starmer said that Labour must listen to the public on how to change “restore trust in our party as a force for good.”
A YouGov poll places him comfortably in the lead as the preferred candidate of 36% of party members
EPA

2/10 Rebecca Long Bailey
A key ally of the current left-wing leadership of the party, the Salford & Eccles MP is viewed in some quarters as the natural successor to Mr Corbyn and describes herself as a “proud socialist”. Highly regarded by the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell. She won also won plaudits for her performance filling in for Corbyn both at prime minister’s questions and during the general election debates.
The shadow business secretary grew up by Old Trafford football ground and began her working life serving at the counter of a pawn shop.
Launching her leadership bid, Long Bailey said the party needs to make the positive case for immigration as a “positive force.” She also broke with Corbyn over Trident, saying “If you have a deterrent you have to be prepared to use it.”
PA

3/10 Lisa Nandy
Wigan MP Lisa Nandy has announced she wil stand for the leadership. In a letter to the Wigan Post she said she wanted to bring Labour “home” to voters in its traditional strongholds who have abandoned the party. Nandy went on to say that she understands “that we have one chance to win back the trust of people in Wigan, Workington and Wrexham.” A YouGov poll shows that Nandy is the first preference for 6% of partymembers.
Getty

4/10 Emily Thornberry
Corbyn’s constituency neighbour and friend, Emily Thornberry, has been critical of the party’s Brexit stance, but has remained loyal to the leadership and has represented the Labour Party on various overseas visits.
The 59-year-old was brought up on a council estate near Guildford in Surrey by her mother when her father, a human rights lawyer and academic, walked out on his family. “I was born into the Labour Party,” she once said. “I was delivering leaflets by the age I could reach the letter box.”
First elected as MP for Islington South in 2005, the shadow foreign secretary has launched her bid for the leadership, but the party may be looking for a leadership outside its London stronghold.
After winning back her seat in same venue as Corbyn, she said: “We may be hurting tonight but we are not beaten. We will tell Boris Johnson no our fight is not over, our fight is just starting.”
Reuters

5/10 Angela Rayner – Deputy leadership
Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner has joined the contest for deputy leadership of the party. After ruling herself out of running for the leadership, the Ashton-under-Lynne MP launched her bid for deputy warning that Labour faces the “biggest challenge” in its history and must “win or die.” She is close with leadership contender Rebecca Long Bailey
PA

6/10 Rosena Allin-Khan – Deputy leadership
Shadow sport minister Rosena Allin-Khan said Labour need to listen with “humility” to lost voters as she launched her bid for the deputy leadership. Writing in The Independent, the MP for Tooting refelcted: “We shouldn’t have ignored the warning signs in Scotland, and now we’ve paid the price in northern England, across the midlands and in Wales.”
PA

7/10 Dawn Butler – Deputy leadership
Shadow women and equalities secretary Dawn Butler was first to announce her bid for the deputy leadership. The Brent Central MP has served in Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet since 2016
PA

8/10 Ian Murray – Deputy leadership
Labour’s only MP in Scotland said that the architects of the party’s “catastrophic failure” in the December election can not be allowed to lead the party forward
PA

9/10 Khalid Mahmood – Deputy leadership
Shadow foreign minister Mahmood said living in the West Midlands puts him in the ideal place to win back lost voters as he launched his bid for the deputy leadership. “I’m not part of the metropolitan elite but in Birmingham, the workshop of Britain. I want to rebuild our country and the Labour Party.”
PA

10/10 Richard Burgon – Deputy leadership
Shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon is standing as a continuity candidate, flaunting his loyalty to Jeremy Corbyn and saying it is wrong to blame the current leader for the election defeat
PA
She added: “As for all these empty flats, for these people in China who think, ‘Let’s either buy a gold bar or buy a flat in Bristol’ – no!”
“You’re not allowed to buy a flat in Bristol as an investment and keep it empty. If you keep it empty, you lose it.”
The shadow cabinet minister has also called for councils to be allowed to take back land from developers who fail to act on planning permission within five years of gaining approval.
In its 2019 manifesto, Labour called for developers to face new “use it or lose it” taxes on stalled housing developments.
Ms Thornberry is currently campaigning for a place in the final stage of the leadership race to succeed Jeremy Corbyn.
She is the only candidate out of the four still running who has not guaranteed her place on the ballot paper which will go out to members.
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With most of the major unions backing other candidates so far, Ms Thornberry’s most likely route to the ballot is to secure 33 nominations from constituency Labour Party (CLP) branches.
On Friday night, she had the backing of only nine CLPs out of a possible 189 branches so far.
When asked about her view on the housing crisis, leadership candidate Lisa Nandy said the pressure on the UK’s housing stock had been caused by a “broken economic model”.
The Wigan MP said some former industrial towns had homes “boarded up” because they were unaffordable, which she said was a “consequence of jobs having departed those areas and the young people with them”.
“The flip side is what is happening here in Bristol. Where are those young people going? They’re moving to the cities,” Ms Nandy said.
“So we are overheating one part of our economy and completely underusing and under-appreciating another.
“That’s why we have the high house prices and the inability for young people to get on the housing ladder.”
Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary, said there needed to be a “dramatic council house building programme” like the “one [Labour] set out in the last manifesto”.
“Housing is a basic human right and we are not providing our people with that basic human right at the moment,” Ms Long-Bailey said, as she called for more “quality” housing to be built.
Early frontrunner Sir Keir Starmer said more houses were required at “rents and rates that people can actually afford”.
He said overcrowding in London was having a negative impact on children’s learning and labelled the current situation “disgraceful”.
“Don’t see it as a housing issue, see it as a much bigger social justice issue because that’s what it is,” Sir Keir said.
Additional reporting by PA