Markus Andrews

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe housing secretary Michael Gove has insisted that the government will follow through with its plan to ban no-fault evictions before the next election, despite repeated delays to the legislation.The Conservative party‘s 2019 manifesto pledged to outlaw Section 21 – a provision that allows landlords to evict tenants without having to give a reason outside of a tenancy agreement. But the legislation has been continuously delayed, leading housing campaigners to question the government’s commitment.The renters reform bill, which contains provisions to outlaw the practice, has been going through parliament, but is now not expected to be debated again until next month.The Renters Reform Bill has been continually delayed A further 30,230 landlords started no-fault eviction court proceedings in 2023 – a 28 per cent rise in one year.On BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Mr Gove guaranteed that no-fault evictions will be banned by the time of the general election later this year.Asked whether the practice will have ended by the time Britain goes to the polls, despite his previous concerns that the courts may not be able to cope, Mr Gove said: “We will have outlawed it, and we will put the money into the courts in order to ensure that they can enforce it.”Mr Gove’s legislation has faced significant opposition from within his own party, as nearly one in five Conservative MPs are also landlords.Late last year, a series of Conservative MPs voiced their opposition to the Renters Reform Bill, saying it would add “to the burden of landlords”.In the Commons, Conservative former minister Sir Edward Leigh told MPs: “Banning no-fault evictions will make the rental market even more stagnant and will lead to a further drying up of it.”He added: “And apart from adding to the burden of landlords, we don’t want a situation that happened in Ireland, where the regulatory burdens on landlords is such that the rental sector has shrunk massively and governments have paid the price in terms of popularity.”Conservative MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown also said the bill would have a “disastrous effect” on areas including his constituency “in reducing the number of rental properties, and therefore increasing the price of rent, and for youngsters this is really serious”.The housing secretary also said he is doing everything he can “short of laying siege” to the Chancellor’s home to persuade him to put more money into housing in the spring Budget.Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said the bill would reduce the number of rental properties in The Cotswolds Mr Gove said: “I’m doing everything I can, I mean short of laying siege to his own home.“Every day I send him a note or a message emphasising the importance of doing more to unlock housing supply.He added: “And he gets it. So Jeremy Hunt is someone who absolutely appreciates the importance of supporting the next generation.” Responding to Michael Gove’s comments this morning, Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper MP said:“It is shocking that this Conservative government has repeatedly chosen to delay their promised ban on no-fault evictions.“Michael Gove’s words will ring hollow for those who have waited for so long for this urgently needed reform.She added: “This government has turned a blind eye to the housing crisis in this country, 16 housing ministers later, people are still facing the same problems.“Renters shouldn’t have to face losing their homes through no fault of their own any longer. Rishi Sunak and Michael Gove must stick to their promise before more and more families get caught up in these devastating consequences.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe Labour candidate for Rochdale, Azhar Ali, has apologised after he reportedly said Israel had been warned about the 7 October attack and allowed it to happen.The Labour Party has issued a statement on behalf of the candidate after the Mail on Sunday published comments from a recording of him telling the Lancashire Labour Party that Israel had been warned of the attack before it happened, but they “deliberately took the security off”.Mr Ali is alleged to have said: “The Egyptians are saying that they warned Israel 10 days earlier… Americans warned them a day before [that] there’s something happening… They deliberately took the security off, they allowed… that massacre that gives them the green light to do whatever they bloody want.”The Labour councillor is also alleged to have said that Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has “lost the confidence of the parliamentary party”. He said: “A lot of the MPs I’ve spoken to, non-Muslim MPs, feel that on this issue, he’s lost the confidence of the parliamentary party.”In the statement issued on Sunday morning, Mr Ali said: “I apologise unreservedly to the Jewish community for my comments which were deeply offensive, ignorant, and false.“Hamas’ horrific terror attack was the responsibility of Hamas alone, and they are still holding hostages who must be released. October 7th was the greatest loss of Jewish life in a single day since the Holocaust, and Jews in the UK and across the world are living in fear of rising antisemitism. I will urgently apologise to Jewish leaders for my inexcusable comments.”He added: “The Labour Party has changed unrecognisably under Keir Starmer’s leadership, he has my full support in delivering the change Britain needs.”With the by-election just over two weeks away, it is too late for Labour to replace Mr Ali as a candidate. Labour MP Pat McFadden also told Sky News that Azhar Ali will remain as Labour’s candidate in Rochdale.The comments are likely to ignite a major row in the Labour party as Sir Keir has come under intense pressure over his handling of the Gaza crisis. In November, 56 Labour MPs rebelled and backed calls for a ceasefire. A recent Survation poll conducted for the Labour Muslim Network found that British Muslims are losing trust in Labour over its handling of the Israel-Gaza war. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is now calling for a ‘sustainable ceasefire’ following pressure in his own party to respond to the conflict in Palestine On Sky News this morning, Labour’s national campaign coordinator, Pat McFadden, said Mr Ali’s comments were “completely wrong”.The shadow frontbencher said: “He’s issued a complete apology and retraction and I hope he learns a good lesson from it because he should never have said something like that in the first place.”The Board of Deputies of British Jews have called Mr Ali’s comments “disgraceful and unforgivable”.In a statement released on X, formerly Twitter, they said: “Were it not too late to do so, we would have called on Labour to replace Mr Ali as a candidate. It is clear to us that Mr Ali is not apologising out of a genuine sense of remorse.“Despite what he says in his apology, we do not see how we could possibly engage with him at this time and we believe other leading Jewish communal groups will feel similarly.”The Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester and Region have also released a public statement condemning the comments.In a post on X, they called Mr Ali’s comments “deeply troubling” and said the “conspiratorial narrative is highly offensive, completely fictitious and at a time of record antisemitism, has the potential to exacerbate the conflict playing out across Greater Manchester and beyond.”Labour currently have a majority of more than 9,000 votes in Rochdale and 51.6 per cent of the vote. Mr Ali was selected as the candidate to represent Labour in the upcoming by-election following the death of Labour MP Sir Tony Lloyd last month. More