Alan Sugar tried to lay into Jeremy Corbyn on 11 April. But he got confused and ended up promoting a socialist approach. And his comment shows one reason why the Labour leader’s support is booming.
“The fucking irony of this tweet”
On Twitter, the Apprentice host attempted to leverage his upbringing against the Labour leader:
Don't lecture me. I was born in a council flat in hackney. I know what it's like to be poor. @jeremycorbyn is lying with his Robin Hood https://t.co/jqjwubhc7d's great to get naive people to vote for him. Don't be jealous of those who succeed in life. https://t.co/hXvJ7ioVlf https://t.co/RzWQUf6787
— Lord Sugar (@Lord_Sugar) April 11, 2019
But people quickly spotted the fundamental flaw in his reasoning:
https://twitter.com/hapoel2018/status/1117020523886780418
https://twitter.com/matteoj17/status/1116457074538500097
you were born in a council flat, I rented a room in an ex council flat for £700.
You see why people support corbyn?
— Aaron Bastani (@AaronBastani) April 13, 2019
Oh, Sugar…
The ongoing housing crisis is a huge reason Corbyn has so much support. The Conservative Party has essentially starved off the supply of social and genuinely affordable housing. This inflates the price of rent and homes – because everyone needs shelter so the demand is guaranteed. It’s profitable for home and landowners but crushing for everyone else.
By contrast, Corbyn’s Labour wants to change the view of housing from a moneymaking asset to a basic human necessity. Recently, Labour reiterated its pledge to end the ‘free-market’ scam:
We’ll build one million real affordable homes to rent and buy over ten years.
We’ll give renters a host of new rights and protections.
We’ll end rough sleeping within five years.
We’ll give councils the new funding and powers they need to kick-start the biggest council house building programme in nearly 40 years.
We’ll scrap the Bedroom Tax and introduce a ‘zero-carbon’ homes standard to build cleaner, greener homes.
It’s an investment, not ‘unaffordable’
This is not ‘unaffordable’. On the contrary, constructing social housing is jam-packed with economic benefits. When you build a social house the money does not just disappear; the costs are returned to the state through rent payments.
Further, the taxpayer doesn’t just break even in providing security for families with housing. Social tenants are freed from astronomical rent costs. This means they have significantly more disposable income, which they will likely pay back into the economy. Construction also stimulates the economy through increased demand for jobs and supplies.
As well as being a great macroeconomic policy, it is also a logical way to reduce the welfare bill. The Treasury’s £1.25bn annual grant for social housing saves £4.5bn a year in housing benefit.
So thanks to Sugar for drawing attention to a key reason behind Corbyn’s support. Sugar was able to get on in life because his family had the security of social housing. We need to ensure people have that today.
Featured image via YouTube – The Telegraph / YouTube – Good Morning Britain
