George Galloway MP has been accused of scaremongering over council plans to transfer housing stock to registered social landlords in the part of east London that he represents.
David Orr, the chief executive of the National Housing Federation, hit back at claims by Galloway, whose Respect party held its annual conference last weekend, that Tower Hamlets council tenants faced rent rises and the loss of secure tenancies if they backed the authority’s plans to transfer its 24,000 homes.
Orr said that the transfer was the only way of finding the £590m of investment required to repair and refurbish stock.
He said: “Galloway accuses Tower Hamlets council of spin, but he is twisting the truth and cheating tenants out of better homes to further his own political agenda.”
Galloway won the Bow and Bethnal Green constituency at the general election in May this year and his party hopes to capture Tower Hamlets from Labour at council elections in May 2006.
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