Lib Dem campaign forces government to rethink housing grant

7.12.00pm GMT Tue 10th Jan 2006

Southwark Liberal Democrats have hailed the Government's U-turn over the appalling housing settlement it had offered Southwark as a victory for tenants.

The recent announcement by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) to give Southwark's Housing Revenue Fund (HRA) an extra £5.5million comes after huge pressure from councillors, the tenant council, tenants' and residents' associations and local MPs, led by Lib Dem Council Leader Cllr Nick Stanton and Lib Dem Executive Member for Housing Cllr Stephen Flannery.

Commenting, Cllr Nick Stanton said:

"The Government's U-turn is a huge victory for our tenants and residents. The draft settlement was completely unacceptable and would have forced rents up and service down.

"The Labour Government now knows that it cannot treat Southwark with such disrespect."

Cllr Stephen Flannery added:

"Harriet Harman has tried to claim this as a victory for Labour, but her own U-turn shows that she was unwilling to help until she realised the strength of support for our campaign for a fairer settlement.

"Labour's new formula for working out our grant was clearly flawed, but thanks to the strong case we put forward to the Government and the massive support we got from residents we forced them to rethink."