Ed Miliband out of touch with Hertfordshire house prices says Anne Main
10th January 2012
On the Radio Four Today program Ed Miliband commented:
“If you live in central London where housing costs are much higher you're currently being faced with the same cap as if you live in Hertfordshire where actually living costs are lower. It's got to be done in an appropriate way.”
On hearing the comments Anne said:
“This just goes to show how out of touch Ed Miliband and the Labour party are with people in St Albans and Hertfordshire as a whole. Train fares are some of the highest in the country and house prices in St Albans are nearly double the national average. For Mr Miliband to suggest that we have much lower housing costs then the entirety of London is simply a fictitious argument; he has not done his research. In Lewisham , Barking and Dagenham , Hackney and many other areas of London housing costs are far lower than in St Albans. Public funding for housing benefit should be based on need and how much the taxpayer can reasonably afford; these comments from Mr Miliband just go to show that Labour still do not appreciate this.”
Figures from the Land registry show that the average house price in St Albans is £435,919 compared to the national average of £241,461.
