Labour MP for Ilford South, Jas Athwal, swore to continue being a negligent landlord (Picture: UK Parliament on Twitter)
The Labour Party harbours enemies of the working class. Jas Athwal, the MP for Ilford South, is the biggest landlord in the House of Commons.
He rents out mouldy and ant-infested properties with fire alarms dangling from the ceilings and washing machines dumped next to stairs. The Labour Party’s manifesto declared it would transform the housing sector in Britain.
It commits to “prevent private renters being exploited and discriminated against”. But Labour welcomes profiteering landlords in its ranks. Athwal owns 15 flats. His tenants recently spoke to the BBC about the conditions they face.
“The ants are everywhere,” one resident said, pointing to insects climbing up a door frame. “They are on my kid’s body and on their clothes.” Another renter said, “The whole ceiling would be black if we didn’t clean it every few weeks.”
In a block of seven flats that Athwal owns, half the tenants said they must regularly clean mould off the ceilings and walls. Mouldy properties are a serious danger to renters.
In 2020, two-year-old Awaab Ishak died in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, from respiratory conditions caused by mould in a rented property.
Athwal said that he would address the issues in his properties immediately. But the issues should never have arisen. Athwal then tried to put the blame onto the letting agency.
He said he “met with the property management company to understand failures in communication”. Labour previously pledged to extend “Awaab’s Law”—it would ensure private properties are regularly checked for dangerous conditions.
But Labour has clearly done nothing to enforce this. Athwal’s negligence therefore reflects the disgraceful disregard Labour has for tenants.
Shockingly, Athwal defended himself by saying, “I’m proud to rent out homes with secure tenancies at below-market rents.”
He referred to himself as a “renters’ champion”, which is a disgusting insult to his tenants who suffer under the dangerous conditions he leaves his properties in.
Athwal’s remarks imply that if you are poor or working class you are only worthy of dirty and dilapidated accommodation. Athwal’s negligence does not stop here.
To rent out the block of seven flats in Redbridge, the council requires landlords to have a selective property licence. Landlords must pay for the licence that helps councils monitor the condition of properties.
One member of the London Assembly, who inspected Athwal’s flats, said there is no record of Athwal ever having a licence.
Indeed, Athwal admitted to seeing an email reminding him to renew them—which he ignored. What is most shocking is that Athwal imposed this system of selective licences in 2017 when he was a Labour councillor.
He previously said it was most rigorous landlord licensing scheme in London—something which doesn’t apply to him. Whatever Labour says about its solutions for Britain’s housing crisis, they cannot be trusted.
In July Keir Starmer immediately suspended the seven Labour MPs who voted against the two-child benefit cap. It’s unacceptable to Labour’s hierarchy to vote to end child poverty.
But Jas Athwal faces no such action. Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has previously said that “there is no excuse to let private landlords off the hook”. But cabinet minister Lucy Powell rushed to defend Athwal last week.
She said he “didn’t know this is happening in his housing stock”. Labour has shown that it will not address child poverty or the housing crisis.
It is a party of the bosses, the rich, imperialism and negligent landlords. There will be little respite for working people under Keir Starmer’s Labour Party.
Those who defend working people are attacked, while those who profit from the exploitation of workers and tenants are welcomed. Athwal should go—as should all landlords.
Trade unions and the left must seize back the issue of winter fuel payments as the right tries to opportunistically use it for its advantage.
The right wing newspapers Daily Express and the Daily Mail both attack Labour for cutting winter fuel payments after giving in to “union pay-masters” by handing out pay rises.
We need to reject the lie that cuts result from public sector pay rises—and Labour’s lie that there’s no alternative to austerity.
Labour has announced plans to axe the universal winter fuel allowance, which is worth between £100 and £300 a year to 11.4 million pensioners.
Instead, allowances will only be available for pensioners on means-tested benefits.
Last Sunday Lucy Powell, Labour leader of the House of Commons, made an absurd claim. She said if the cut had not been made “We would likely have seen the cost of borrowing going up, a run on the pound possibly.”
But there is money for public sector pay rises and there are alternatives to cutting cash to pensioners.
A two percent wealth tax on assets over £10 million could generate nearly £24 billion a year and affect just 0.04 percent of the population. This would close the so-called public finance “black hole” in an instant.
And workers need a pay rise after decades of wage stagnation and the current soaring cost of living.
Labour is choosing to make cuts that worsen the lives of working class people instead of taxing the rich.
The Unite union has launched a national campaign to defend the winter fuel payment with resources for action like leaflets, posters and a petition.
Let’s build resistance to Labour’s attacks on the working class.
The budget on 30 October will be a key date for protests and workplace action.
Thomas Foster
But where there is repression, there is resistance.
Strikers are demanding an unallocated €1.6 billion go towards workers' pay rise
London march on 27 October
Another day of mass resistance
