Labour tenants slam party housing spokeswoman over protests

A Labour housing pressure group has made strong public criticism of the party’s shadow housing spokeswoman, Thangam Debbonaire.

Labour Tenants United was set up last spring declaring at the time that “Labour fails renters” and “around one in every five Labour MPs” receives an income through rent.

Debbonaire, who is a Bristol MP, comes in for criticism in a statement by the tenant group on Twitter. It wrote over the weekend: “If Labour’s representative for Bristol @ThangamMP can’t come out against police violence against her own constitutes - people who can simply choose to vote her out at the next election - how can tenants count on her to be on their side when it comes to @UKLabour policymaking?”

One of the tweets responding to the statement refers to Debbonaire as “the Shadow Secretary of State for Landlords”.

The tenant group statement came after a third evening of violence at ‘Kill The Bill’ protests in the city - events described as “disgraceful” by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. 

Ten people were arrested that evening during the protest, against parts of the Police and Crime Bill, which would ban or exercise constraints over some forms of protest. 

After an earlier evening of protests in Bristol, Debbonaire went on to social media and urged people to look at pictures issued by the police to help identify individuals involved in what she called ”the violence and rioting in our city.”

Labour Tenants United has been vigorous in its campaigning for extensions to eviction bans and for bans to not have exemptions for long-term arrears.

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