Dear all,
The debate on the housing bill in parliament seems likely to go ahead on the 3rd of May so we have brought forward the national lobby - we need everyone to be there and to line up meetings with MPs for that day.
See below for a model email to get you started.
Other upcoming dates...
Mon 25th April Planning meeting for the 2nd national demo 6pm Unite office Moreland St EC1
Tuesday 26th April London: help leaflet junior doctors and teachers march 5 pm St Thomas Hospital
Wed 27th 1pm Unite Moreland St to stuff envelopes for Mailing to MPs
30th April (Saturday) Next national organising meeting 11am Unite office 128 Theobalds Rd wc1x 8tn
3rd May protest lobby at Parliament
18th June National Demonstration in London
Mp's will be debating the Housing and Planning bill on 3rd May in the House of Commons. This is a crucial debate that could see the Bill voted on this day.
Kill the Housing Bill camapigners will be meeting outside Parliament at 12pm to 2pm to demonstrate their opposition to the Bill. Then at 3pm til 7pm we will be attending a meeting in the committee room in Parliament to lobby MP's to vote against the bill.
Below is a template email and letter you can send to your MP and with links attached to find their contact details.
Model Email:
Dear __________ MP
As one of your constituents I am writing to ask you to oppose the Hous
...ing and Planning Bill.
This Bill, if passed, will undoubtedly make the national housing crisis worse.
At a time of acute shortages of truly affordable housing this Bill will lead to the loss of more social housing through the extension of right-to-buy to housing association tenants and the compulsory sale of ‘high-value’ council housing. It will replace affordable rented homes in new developments with starter homes that will be unaffordable (up to £450,000 in London).
This Bill will do nothing to help tenants struggling in expensive, insecure, unregulated private rental properties - but instead will force these conditions onto social tenants who will see their secure tenancies abolished and their rents raised through pay-to-stay.
The planning elements of the Bill will also enable more widespread demolitions of affordable social housing estates and reduce democratic local control of planning decisions.
Despite the numerous amendments that have been tabled to this Bill in the Lords, I am still extremely worried about the overall impact of this Bill and cannot see any positive reason to support even an amended version.
There is a full briefing on the Bill available on killthehousingbill.wordpress.com
I hope that you will speak out and vote against this Bill. I am coming to the national lobby of parliament organised by the Kill the Housing Bill Campaign on Tuesday 3rd of May and I would appreciate the opportunity to meet you in person to discuss my concerns and find out what you can do to address them.
There is a protest against the Bill outside parliament from 12pm to 2pm and a meeting inside from 3pm to 7pm. Please contact me by reply email or by phone on ********* to confirm when you will be available to meet on that day.
I look forward to hearing from you,
Kind regards,
_______________________
(Name, and give full address to confirm you are a constituent)
You can find your local MP email address on this link:
http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/
You can search for Lords to contact using this link:
https://www.writetothem.com/lords
Even MPs who oppose this Bill will be able to use letters from constituents as proof of widespread opposition, and you can add personal information about how the Bill will affect you that MPs can use when speaking on the Bill, so it is still well worth writing to them.