Thursday, 29 September 2016

Witney by-election. English Democrats' Winston McKenzie to stand.


While crusading for “Remain” during the European Union referendum campaign David Cameron boasted: “Brits don’t quit”.  However, only hours after the announcement of the referendum result in favour of “Leave” he decided to quit as Prime Minister.  Less than two months later, on September 12, he resigned from Parliament as MP for Witney. - “Brits don’t quit” indeed!

Be that as it may, Winston McKenzie is standing as the English Democrats’ candidate in the Witney by-election.  I believe he has, in the past, expressed an interest in increasing the supply of housing by building prefabricated homes – an excellent idea! 

However, the English Democrats’ policy seems, in my opinion, a little unimaginative on the subject of housing.  It is a pity their manifesto does not mention the fact that, according to the CPRE, there is enough brown-field land for one million homes.  Although, to be fair, their manifesto section on “Ecology and the Environment” does say:The English Democrats promote much tighter restrictions on green-field development and a better use of brown-field sites.”

 I reproduce the English Democrats’ manifesto section on Housing below.  Judge it for yourself.

2.8 Housing.
2.8.1 Housing supply and pricing is being severely distorted by the levels of immigration into England. First time buyers find it difficult to afford a home of their own and need to take on large mortgages and the attendant interest payments, in order to do so. Social housing is currently insufficient to meet demand.

2.8.2 With our pledge to bring mass immigration to a complete end and to expel illegal immigrants, then the pressure on housing will be lessened.
2.8.3 The English Democrats advocate a fairer points system for the allocation of social housing, giving greater priority to local people and those who are married or in work.  Publicly funded affordable housing purchase/rental schemes should only be available to first time buyers who are citizens of this country.

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