HC Deb 16 February 1972 vol 831 cc397-8
8. Mr. William Shelton

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment which inner London local authorities are refusing to offer for sale council houses to their tenants; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Amery

I am informed that the only inner London borough councils currently selling council houses are the Borough Councils of Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea. I very much regret that more councils are not offering houses for sale.

Mr. Shelton

I thank my right hon. Friend for that information and deplore the effect on the tenants in the other boroughs. Is he aware that the Borough of Greenwich specifically undertook, just before the borough elections last year, to sell certain council houses but did not proceed with this undertaking? I understand that some of the tenants who had suffered financial consequences as a result have not been adequately compensated.

Mr. Amery

The circumstances explained by my hon. Friend amount, in my view, to a breach of public faith.

Mr. Leonard

On a point of order. Is it in order for an hon. Member to ask a question about events in another hon. Member's constituency?

Mr. Speaker

Certainly it is not a matter of order; it is a matter of practice.

Mr. Frank Allaun

Does not the Minister think that it is a dirty trick to force tenants into trying to buy their own houses by doubling their rents?

Mr. Amery

There is no question of forcing them to buy their own houses, but any encouragement or help which can be given, either through the building societies or by lowering—indeed removing—the ceiling on local authority mortgage lending, seems to me to be a step in the right direction.