THE HOUSING CRISIS is a huge problem in Hackney so the Liberal Democrats deserve praise for standing up for young people who need help with their rental bills.

The LibDems report that more than 240 Hackney young people will lose out from the Conservative government’s decision to strip 18 t0 21 year-olds of housing benefit.

The yellow-ribboned folk’s digging in the House of Commons library revealed, they say, that Hackney North and Stoke Newington is the second-worst-affected constituency in England. Ending the benefit could, say charities, push more young people on to the streets. The LibDems add that the cuts are likely to cost taxpayers more than the policy change will save.

Local parliamentary candidates Dave Raval (Hackney South and Shoreditch) and Joe Richards (Hackney North and Stoke Newington) say in a joint statement: “Vulnerable youngsters with nowhere to turn are being abandoned by this Conservative government.”

A Liberal Democrat government would restore the benefit.

Hackney South MP Meg Hillier comments that last month Labour was the first to demand that Tory Chancellor Philip Hammond reverse the “cruel” decision to withdraw housing benefit from 18 to 21 year-olds in his“disastrous” March 2017 Budget.

She adds: “It is unacceptable and in a borough like Hackney with a young population and high private-sector rents, it hits particularly hard. I will be fighting to get it reversed.

“Tory Ministers should hang their heads in shame.”

For the Greens, Alastair Binnie-Lubbock said: “The Greens will introduce rent controls and a huge council-housebuilding programme, as well as scraping tuition fees, and will reintroduce the education maintenance grants.”

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* Backstory: LibDems comment on fears for Rio cinema; Party launches flyer; Greens aim at Hackney LibDems and Tories 

* Apart from Richards picture, all pix on this page © David.Altheer [at] gmail.com,  for sale for reproduction (see last paragraph of Contact).

* General election 2017: The Green Party has announced that Alastair Binnie-Lubbock will stand in Hackney North and Stoke Newington against Diane Abbott and Rebecca Johnson in Hackney South and Shoreditch against Meg Hillier.

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