ROOF Blog

Fears of a double-dip recession and a sterling crisis in the run-up to the election were raised last night amid news of collapsing investment in British industry and a warning from one of the world’s leading financiers that the pound could plummet within weeks. The pound fell sharply on the foreign exchange markets after a day of grim economic news which saw an admission from RBS that it had missed government targets for business lending, a downgrading of the UK growth prospects by the European commission and a warning from the CBI that consumer spending was likely to remain weak ahead of polling day.

Crisis has warned that despite the budget deficit, 75% of the British public want the Government to address the growing gap between rich and poor. A YouGov poll commissioned by Crisis also shows that the majority of people in UK (60% of those with an opinion) say that the recession has made them more worried about the gap between rich and poor and the same proportion want to see the poorest protected from budget cuts as they can least afford to pay. Leslie Morphy, Crisis chief executive said: ‘With the election looming, politicians vying for votes must recognise people’s desire for a fairer society. They must not forget those who are poorest, amongst whom homeless people are some of the most vulnerable. They must pledge to protect them.’

Boris Johnson’s key election pledge to build 50,000 affordable homes in London in his first three years in office will not be delivered, City Hall has admitted.

The Mayor’s deputy for planning Sir Simon Milton said the target must be pushed to 2012 due to the downturn.

The number of affordable homes started since Mr Johnson was elected is 6,500, with 9,080 completions. At that rate the number built by May 2011 would be between 13,000 and 21,000.

Nicky Gavron, Labour’s housing representative on the London Assembly, said: ‘This is yet another broken promise’.

One in four English local authorities would take more than 10 years to house everyone on their council housing waiting list, it was revealed today.

Shelter says a total of 82 authorities would take between a decade and 33 years to clear their waiting lists, or until 2019 to 2042.

With the national waiting list reaching almost 1.8 million households, but only just over 270,000 homes let nationally last year, the average time for all councils to end their lists would be almost seven years.

Of the 355 local authorities, Barnet, in North West London, would take the longest to house everyone on its waiting list at more than 33 years, followed by Redbridge in East London at more than 32 years, and Brent on 25 years.

Shelter has blamed the severe shortage of affordable homes, and has called on political parties to make housing a top election priority.