During today’s Mayor’s Question Time (MQT), Zoë Garbett, Green Party London Assembly Member, raised concerns about the Mayor’s London Growth Plan – published last month – specifically highlighting his heavy reliance on overseas investment to address the city’s housing crisis. Zoë told the Mayor that this would only continue to exacerbate the issue of housing inequality in the city.
In response, the Mayor defended his position, saying, “we do want foreign investment for the simple reason that there has not been enough investment from the Government.”
Reflecting on the Mayor’s response, Zoë Garbett AM says:
London’s housing market is broken. It’s designed for the wealthy to profit while Londoners suffer. Overseas investment is not a solution to the housing crisis – in fact, it’s made the situation worse.
It’s telling that the Mayor has admitted he’s forced to rely on overseas investment while the Labour government refuses to provide essential public funds for housing. What kind of message does that send about priorities? Londoners deserve better than to be left at the mercy of speculative overseas money.
With 40% of Londoners’ wages going to rent, 60,000 families stuck in temporary accommodation, social housing waiting lists at a ten year high and 300,000 homes approved but not built, it’s clear the current system is not working.
Sky-high rents and the cost of living crisis are leaving schools struggling to stay open and driving families out of the city they call home.
Without a meaningful shift in government policy and funding, London’s housing market will continue to serve the interests of a wealthy few.
2 comments:
Yes I totally agree that there are too many private tower blocks being built in Greater London purely for profit.
Zoë Garbett is moving like she doesn’t understand how power and investment work. The Greens never have a problem with foreign money unless it challenges their narrow, performative worldview. When Sian Berry went on TV casually admitting she had taken cocaine, no one in their party was questioning South American investment then. But now, when Sadiq Khan is forced to seek overseas funding to build homes because the government refuses to do its job… they suddenly find their moral compass? The hypocrisy is shameless.
Let’s be clear. The Greens are perfectly happy with foreign involvement when it is European workers, international NGOs, or anything that aligns with their own privileged, middle-class activism. But when the same foreign money could actually be used to solve London’s housing crisis, they start preaching from their soapbox. They would rather sit in comfortable outrage than engage with real-world economics.
Labour is not relying on overseas investment out of choice. It is because a Tory government obsessed with starving public services has abandoned London. If Garbett really cared about priorities, she would be directing her outrage at the Conservatives, who have defunded social housing, allowed property developers to hoard empty homes, and kept working-class Londoners locked in poverty. Labour is in power trying to fix the problem. What are the Greens doing? Waving banners, making noise, and offering nothing in return.
It is easy to sit on the sidelines and perform politics. Delivering real change takes power, strategy, and action. Labour is doing the work. The Greens are just talking.
Post a Comment