Social engineering in London

Last night I attended the London Federation of Green Parties meeting representing Lambeth but also as a member of the party's national Regional Council and reported back on the Regional Council's meeting in Bristol several weeks ago as well as a written report on what was happening in Lambeth - including our recent stall at the Lambeth Country show where I was an hour or two on the stall on Sunday afternoon.

Our two Assmbly Members were present and I referred to the very effective questioning of Boris Johnson which I saw on the London version of the Politics Show on Sunday.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00t5vcz/The_Politics_Show_London_18_07_2010/

As I said last night, Johnson was 'gutted like a kipper' by the journalist and resorted to blustering and puffing a la outraged Tory squire when he could not answer some of the questions. One of the most pertinent questions was what would happen to the 10,500 households which would not be able to live in inner London because of the new cap being placed on housing benefits, and who would have to move to outer London boroughs. Johnson said that he recognised that this was a particular problem for London because of the high rents and housing costs and was negotiating with the government on this. When the journalist retorted that the government had made clear that there would be no special case made for London and what was his Plan B, Boris could only continue saying "We are negotiating with the government", to which the journalist replied: "So you have no Plan B then?" This just about sums it up.

I have no doubt that the government plan will go ahead and, as I said at last night's meeting, the biggest piece of social engineering in London since Dame Shirley Porter's attempt to remove the council flat dwellers from Westminster, will become reality. I have no doubt that this is a deliberate Tory plan to remove the poor and those considered Labour voters from the inner London boroughs, while also forcing thousands into cramped spaces in outer London.

There is also the issue of the resulting pressure on services in the outer boroughs, as the journalist mentioned to Boris, and how this will impact in areas such as Barking & Dagenham. It will be manna from heaven for the BNP. Greens in London and in the London Assembly must continue to fight against this form of 'internal exile' and force Boris to be much more critical of his own government's actions on this. A friend of mine who works with the Homeless Unit in Kensington and Chelsea and whose ex-partner is bipolar and depends on Housing Benefit has told me that the whole system will be a disaster and result in real suffering among some of the most vulnerable people in this city.