I WOULD like to respond to Colchester MP, Will Quince’s article concerning council housing.

While I agree wholeheartedly with Mr Quince that we need a comprehensive council house building programme, his article deliberately misrepresents the cause of the housing crisis.

Mr Quince fails to mention the devastating impact of Right to Buy, which was introduced by the Conservative government under Margaret Thatcher, was reintroduced by Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron and continues to this day.

This policy allows council house tenants to buy their houses at vastly reduced prices, which has had the impact of removing many thousands of houses from the council housing stock.

It has recently come to light that 40 per cent of council houses sold to tenants in London are now owned and let by private landlords.

This misleading article claims council house building stalled during the Labour Government years and Mr Quince quotes a house building figure of 360 houses a year built during this period. In fact, 251,000 social and council houses were built under the last Labour government.

It was the Conservative government which stopped councils building houses, by starving them of funds, and gave this responsibility to privately run housing associations - another fact conveniently ignored by Mr Quince.

The bulk of Mr Quince’s article makes good sense and it is refreshing that Conservative MPs are beginning to see the need for an enhanced local council role in house building and renting. However, he demeans his position as an MP by manipulating data and deliberately avoiding the role which successive Conservative governments have played in causing the housing crisis.

Anyone can write an opinion piece. What we want to see is action and impact – both sadly lacking to date.

Robin Taverner

Berechurch Hall Road, Colchester