Council only uses consultation when it has rigged its questions - Iain Whyte

In the depths of lockdown with thousands of Edinburgh workers furloughed and huge economic uncertainty we must give every financial break we can to the hardest hit.

A rent freeze was agreed last week for Edinburgh's council tenants. Picture: JPIMedia

A rent freeze for council tenants is a “no brainer” isn’t it? Well not for the SNP and their Labour enablers in the city chambers.

Thankfully, a rent freeze was agreed last week because other politicians joined the Conservatives to vote it through. I rightly say joined us because our budget proposed more than just the freeze. We prioritised millions to repair crumbling council blocks, refurbish stairwells and make sure tenants are helped where there are also private owners in the stair.

The biggest joke is the SNP claim that tenants supported their rent hike. This was based on a consultation that asked whether tenants wanted “the improvement plan funded by a 2 per cent rent increase to speed up”. A totally different question.

Did they ask tenants if they wanted a rent increase as opposed to a freeze? No. Did they ask whether they wanted a freeze or to fund 120 homes for other people over 30 years? No. Did they ask people if they wanted rising rents so they could build four more flats a year? No.

Just like on Spaces for People they only use consultation when they have rigged the question to give the answer they want. In this case we were told that Edinburgh Tenants Federation’s demand for a rent freeze was unrepresentative. Yet the federation is funded by the council from tenants’ rents to represent them.

Edinburgh has some of the highest council rents in Scotland and while many tenants get benefits to pay rent the ones who don’t are probably the hardest hit by the pandemic. They are likely to be in jobs where they are furloughed, on reduced hours or at risk of redundancy. They qualify for social housing, but they don’t qualify for housing benefits so their finances are precarious.

The SNP and Labour are always shouting about poverty so why so little understanding? As usual with this council the hubris of a “grand strategy” was to blame. They claim a freeze will slow down council house building. The truth is their strategy will cost £800m over the next five years. A £2m one-off rent freeze will hardly dent it.

I’m not surprised the SNP are so jumpy. They promised to build 10,000 homes by 2022 but are currently falling 5,000 short. Their long-term promise of a “programme” for 20,000 homes by 2027 is completely meaningless. So much so they have dropped the deadline.

Back in the 1980s and 1990s the right to buy was incredibly popular - even with the Nicola Sturgeon’s parents. That’s because people didn't have to let left-wing politicians running councils tell them what was best for them – even down to the colour of their front doors.

Regrettably, the “we know what’s best for you” approach is alive and well in the SNP. To the point where the least able to afford it are being told they have to pay more in a pandemic to build other people a house.

Cllr Iain Whyte is the Conservative group leader at Edinburgh City Council

Editor’s note: This article has been edited to remove the claim that the SNP housing convener, Kate Campbell, had responded to a voter’s email after the meeting without saying that the proposed rent increase had been cancelled as her message did, in fact, say this. We apologise to Cllr Campbell for the error.