A former Labour MP who is a past chairperson of the all-party Rental Reform Parliamentary Committee has defected to he Greens.
Lloyd Russell-Moyle, the former Labour MP for Brighton Kemptown, was a vocal enthusiast of rent controls and greater restrictions on private landlords.
Although considered to be on the left of the Labour Party, when an MP he spoke favourably of the then-Conservative government’s Renters Reform Bill. Just three years ago he wrote an article for a Labour website saying: “Done right, the Renters Reform Bill could transform the lives of millions of tenants.”
In May last year Russell-Moyle was suspended from the Labour Party following a complaint about his behaviour eight years earlier, before he was an MP. As a result he was denied the chance to stand for the party in the July 2024 General Election, although later last year the investigation into the complaint found there was insufficient evidence to proceed; additionally, complainant then withdrew the allegation.
But now he has joined the Green Party, which last month voted at its annual conference to phase out private landlords from the housing system – a view supported by the new party leader, Zack Polanski.
The conference vote also agreed that the party would impose yet more regulation and taxes on private rentals to make it difficult for landlords to make a profit, while boosting housebuilding by councils through a state-owned housebuilding company. It would use existing Green policies such as imposing rent controls, ending buy-to-let mortgages and giving councils ‘first dibs’ to buy private rental properties at a discounted price when they are put on the sales market.
Russell-Moyle issued a statement over the weekend saying: “My old party has left behind millions of people who want hope … In the Greens, I see a party I have worked with for years and I am making the jump to join them today. I urge others to do so too.”
This article is taken from Landlord Today