Ministers will be forced to seek parliamentary approval before they can make any changes to rules forcing local authorities to hand over the proceeds of council house sales to the Treasury, after peers inflicted a third defeat on Wednesday night to the government’s controversial housing bill.
The bill includes plans for local authorities to be compelled to sell off higher-value council properties in their area to fund the extension of the discounted right-to-buy to tenants of social housing – and allows for central government to be able to sequester the proceeds.
But amid concerns that the legislation would hand unfettered power to ministers to dip into councils’ coffers, the House of Lords passed an amendment, tabled by crossbench peer Lord Lisvane – Robert Rogers, the former clerk of the House of Commons, which will compel the government to come back to parliament before it can make any changes to the regime.
The defeat in the Lords, where the Conservatives do not have a majority, followed the loss of two votes on the housing bill on Monday night. The government was also forced to accept two amendments on Tuesday to other aspects of its plans, including a Labour-backed proposal to ensure councils replace any homes they sell, one-for-one.
Labour shadow housing minister John Healey said: “After yet more defeats and partial climbdowns, the government’s extreme housing plans are being exposed as simply not fit for purpose.”
“Ministers have lost all credibility with this half-baked bill. It’s welcome they have backtracked on some areas today, but they must now urgently come back to parliament with improvements that safeguard affordable homes for the next generation.”
Housing campaigners have warned that by focusing taxpayer funding and planning changes on securing more “starter homes” – which will be sold at a discount to the market price – the government’s plans risk undermining the provision of more affordable housing, including homes for rent.
However, housing minister Brandon Lewis has insisted the proposals will “help anyone who aspires to own their own home achieve their dream”.
The fraught passage of the housing bill is a fresh example of the intense pressures facing the government as it attempts to forge ahead with its reform programme at a time when Downing Street’s time and attention is distracted by the EU referendum in June.
As peers were debating housing, Conservative MPs in the Commons were voicing their reservations about the education bill, which will force all Britain’s schools to become academies.
Former schools minister Tim Loughton asked the education minister Nicky Morgan: “as a Conservative I always believe in choice. Can she outline to me the downside of schools migrating organically to academy status rather than imposing a compulsory and arbitrary timeline on them?”
Edward Leigh, the Conservative MP for Gainsborough, asked: “Can we please have a compromise at the end of this process by which county councils will not necessarily be forced to give up control of their primary schools?”
Lucy Powell, the shadow education secretary, said: “Again and again Conservative MPs made reasonable calls for the secretary of state to abandon her plans to force all primary and secondary schools to become academies in multi-academy trusts.”
“It’s absolutely clear that the government would not get the support for these proposals as they stand. They should hit the pause button and have a serious rethink.”
