John Cruddas MP, with Daniel Zeichner, recently launched a campaign highlighting Conservative plans that will double rents and put tenants at risk of eviction. The Member of Parliament for Dagenham, and a leading housing campaigner joined Daniel in Cambridge last December 3rd.

The Tory plans have been discussed by leading Tory councillors and the man who would become Housing Minister if the Tories win this year. The notes of their meetings say that tenants in council housing and housing association homes should pay the same rent as in the private sector, with only the same limited rights. They want everyone to be on an “assured shorthold tenancy”, which means tenants could be given just two months notice to leave – the landlord doesn’t have to give a reason

The average private sector rent in Cambridge is over £225 a week, while the average council and housing association rent is under £90. This means the average council/housing association tenant's rent would

Cambridge Labour Parliamentary Spokesperson Daniel Zeichner says that tenants should be worried by the Conservative plans: “Most people would think that plans to more than double the rent and reduce security sound unreal. But this is exactly what the Tories have in mind. Labour has spent the last decade putting right the under-investment from the last Tory government and we are building council housing again. In a high-cost area like Cambridge, their plans would be particularly damaging.”