Labour’s stupid war on landlords will end in disaster

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‘Chaos with Ed Miliband’ is finally on the horizon - Eddie Mulholland

Well, he did try to warn us. “Britain faces a simple and inescapable choice,” David Cameron famously declared, ahead of the 2015 election. “Stability and strong Government with me, or chaos with Ed Miliband.”

His Lordship may have gone on to win that election. But ever since, those last four words have been constantly thrown back in his face. Again and again, chortling Labour supporters have pointed to the countless crises over which the Tories subsequently presided – from Brexit and the “dementia tax” to Partygate and Liz Truss – before adding sarcastically, “Thank God we avoided chaos with Ed Miliband!

They won’t be laughing much longer, though. Because, a decade on, Lord Cameron is about to be proven all too horribly right. “Chaos with Ed Miliband” is finally on the horizon – and all because of the former Labour leader’s calamitously stupid war on landlords.

At the Labour Party conference this week, our 54-year-old schoolboy of an Energy Secretary set out his plan of attack. Private landlords, he squawked, will be given less than five years to ensure their properties achieve an energy rating of C or above – or they’ll be banned from letting them out.

Is this adenoidal dweeb really unable to see the gapingly blatant flaw in his scheme? Much of Britain’s housing stock is simply too old. Carrying out the required upgrades, therefore, will be either impractical or eye-wateringly expensive. As a result, vast numbers of landlords will tell Mr Miliband where he can stick his heat pump – and sell up. Which means that, unless the existing tenants can afford to buy the property themselves (which they won’t be able to, otherwise they wouldn’t be renting in the first place), they’ll be out the door.

Even in properties that do meet Mr Miliband’s demands, though, tenants will suffer. Because, thanks to the drastic shortage he’ll have caused in the rental market, rents are bound to soar. That’s how the law of supply and demand works. And if Mr Miliband doesn’t realise that, he’ll soon receive a brutal demonstration.

But by then, of course, it will be too late. Labour claims to be on the side of renters, yet its reforms will make renters poorer – or homeless.

Soon enough, the party will pay for this folly. Renters have long been an integral part of its support base. Per YouGov42 per cent of private renters voted Labour in July’s election (while a mere 12 per cent voted Tory). I doubt so many will make that mistake again.

In short: Labour’s war on landlords will end in disaster not just for families – but for Labour itself.

All the above should be obvious. So why is Mr Miliband doing it? Is he delusionally naive? Or, is he deliberately carrying out an ideologically crazed left-wing plot to wreck the private rental sector? Or, more simply, is it revenge on landlords for habitually voting Tory – just as the removal of Winter Fuel Payment is revenge on pensioners?

Whatever the motive, it won’t do a thing to halt climate change. Next to China, India, the US and Russia – countries over which we have little to no influence – Britain’s carbon footprint is meagre. So, no matter how zealously our Government sets about impoverishing us with its net zero brainwaves, the planet won’t even notice. Meanwhile, millions of ordinary people – not just Tory landlords – will suffer.

For the time being, though, Mr Miliband’s plan will at least make insecure middle-class progressives like him feel good about themselves. And, to achieve this vital goal, I suppose sacrifices must be made.