Labour MP Natasha Irons has criticised Reform UK’s proposals to change social housing priority rules, accusing the party of reviving divisive rhetoric rather than addressing the underlying housing crisis.
The Croydon East MP said social housing had given her own family the stability and security needed to build a better life and argued that access to a secure home should not be turned into a contest between different groups.
Writing on X, Irons said:
“The 80s called and wants its rhetoric back.”
She added:
“Social housing provided my family and families like ours the stability and security we needed to build better lives.”
Her comments came in response to remarks from Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice, who said British married couples would receive priority for social housing under his party’s proposals.
Tice was pressed on Times Radio about how the policy would apply in practice, including whether married couples would receive preference over single people and how same-sex married couples would be treated.
Irons said the debate risked distracting from the real challenge facing the country: the shortage of genuinely affordable and social housing.
“This ‘morality’ test isn’t about solving the crisis, it’s about pitting people against one another,” she said.
The intervention follows criticism from other Labour MPs of Reform’s housing proposals, which have included prioritising some British households and restricting access for others.
Labour has instead sought to make increasing the overall supply of social housing central to its response.
The Government this week announced nearly £10 billion for councils and housing associations as part of its £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme, with most of the new homes expected to be for social rent.
For Irons, the contrast is between policies aimed at expanding the number of secure homes available and an approach which she argues seeks to divide people already competing for a scarce supply.
Her intervention adds to a wider Labour attack on Reform’s social housing policy, with MPs arguing that the answer to long waiting lists is to build significantly more homes rather than set different groups against each other.
