Suspended 6 months by rent rise LP

THE BREAK-UP inside the Labour Party over the Tory "fair rents' Bill continues unabated. Labour councillors voting for non-implementation are still being threatened with expulsion and are suspended from their groups.

In Hammersmith, West London, where rents are already • reported to be the fourth highest in the country, 11 Labour councillors have just been suspended for varying periods for defying the whip and voting against Tory plans.

At the council meeting three weeks ago, 42 Labour councillors voted for implementation of the Housing Finance Bill when the debate eventually finished at 2.20 a.m.

As is now commonplace in these debates a smokescreen was thrown up by the right wing and its supporters to try and obscure the complete political bankruptcy of those voting for implementation 'The worst parts of the Bill we will attempt to slow down. But the law is something we have got to deal with and we will take every legal step possible to mitigate the worst parts, council leader Alf. Little told the meeting.

In a remarkable statement Little contrived to conclude it was 'practical' and would serve Housing Correspondent the interests of borough tenants to implement the Bill. It will be interesting to see how many of those facing another £l-a-week rent rise in October will agree with him.

The clearest elaboration of the full-scale retreat before the Tories was still to come, however, from councillor lan Gray.

He was sad to oppose the motion for non-implementation, he said, but the council did have a duty to serve the best interests of tenants. He then spelled out what really frightened the councillors.

He warned of going 'on a collision course with the government'. If we do not implement the Bill will it keep the rates down? Will it stop the Bill?' he asked.

The logic of that argument, of course, is that you never do anything about anything!

With statements like these, it was little wonder that there was continuous uproar throughout the debate from tenants in the public gallery. Silence only fell when the mayor ordered them out.

The ll councillors who took a principled stand and voted for the non-implementation motion were called in a few days later and given suspensions ranging from six months to six weeks. They are appealing against the decisions to the Labour Party's national executive committee.

Chief target for the witchhunt was Tony Powell, vice. chairman of the housing committee, who moved the motion. He got six months and a warning from Fulham Labour Party.

The MP for Fulham is Labour right-winger Michael Stewart, who, on several occasions, has voted with the Tories on the Common Market to help ensure them of a parliamentary majority.

"There had been so little discussion inside our Labour group on the Bill that the only way we could raise the question was by putting a motion down inside the council meeting, Mr Powell told me.

"They. asked me to withdraw it and I refused. I had come to the conclusion that you've got to stand and fight somewhere. And this is it.

'In my view there is a time and need to stop the Tories here or not at all.

'You see, the Bill is really the thin end of the wedge, even from a housing point of view. The next thing you'll get from the Tories is an order to sell council houses.

"This complete whittling away of local council responsibilitiesand health is next-is deliberate Tory policy. We certainly won't have much say as a local council on housing.

The long-term effect of this Bill is that we won't be able to build new houses or flats. There are 5,000 on Hammersmith's waiting list. And don't forget, they're not there just for fun— they really need homes.

"Those in council housing now will be forced to take up the rebates. They can't leave their flats because they'll have nowhere to go.

*As far as obeying the law is concerned-wer, said Mr the law has no Powell, himself a solicitor. Solicitor Tony Powell, vice-chairr sees every justification for fightir enacted.

'You can't start obeying laws which are aimed at one section of the community. The Industrial Relations Act is one example and the Commonwealth Immigration Act another.

'We have to be prepared to say it is bad law and not to the advantage of the people as a whole. These are political Acts and one can legitimately oppose them.

'There is a fairly good history of this kind of opposition-the Chartists, the struggle for. the franchise and of Lansbury against the Poor Law Guardians.

'There is certainly nothing to be said for standing back and letting them give you it.

It is important that the Labour Party should take a stand on this Bill. There hasn't been any real lead from Transport House, though.

'It's up to people at the next election to put in a Labour government and make sure it does what it nan of Fulham housing committee, ng the law when the rents Bill is 'Could a General Election come quickly? I suppose the unions could force one if they wanted it-and I think we would win.

'As far as the last Labour government's housing policies were concerned, there was nothing more disastrous than the Housing Act 1969.

'Houses we bought for £2,000€3,000 to improve went out of our hands and are now being sold for £30,000.

"The Labour government ought to come down for the municipalization of rented property. As long as people make profit out of keeping tenants in bad housing conditions it'll always be the same.

*And there is a strong case for more state control of finance and the provision of low or free interest rates over a long period. Only in this way can we return to housing as a social service, added Mr Powell.

THE FARMWORKERS' demand for a 50 per cent pay rise to a minimum of £25 for a 40-hour, five-day week was not 'an extravagant pipedream', Reg Bottini, the general secretary of the National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers said yesterday.

He was speaking at a rally at Barford in Warwickshire commemorating the founding of the first national farmworkers' union Press, FIVE THOUSAND demonstrators marched through Derry on Sunday calling for peace. Although 4,000 IRA supporters mounted a counter-demonstration, rumours gained ground that the Provisionals were considering a seven-day cease-fire.

It is understood the Provisionals are anxious that the june 15 elections in 'Free Derry' should take place in an atmosphere of peace and 'freedom from tension'. • Formal statements insist that IRA operations will only be suspended if there is an amnesty for all political prisoners, the end of Stormont and the drawal of British troops Ulster's streets.

There was only one explosion in Derry on Sunday, but at Belfast six people died and 18 were injured in blasts and shootings.

Army sources say the six were killed while handling an IRA bomb in transit, but Belfast Provisional command says the men died after they went to nvestigate a car driven into the Catholic Short Strand area from another part of the city. Ulster Protestants of the Defence Association spent yesterday drilling in ranks behind token barricades due to come down at midnight last night.