Southwarkcouncil is planning on changing how it allocates council homes. It plans to give priority to people in work and volunteering over others. The philosophy is to end the “something for nothing culture”.

I’m sure a review of how council homes are allocated will be useful. The council has had a number of commissions – Democracy Commissions, Teenage Pregnancy Commission – so a Council Housing Allocation Commission would be a useful mechanism to decide this. However I fear this is a knee-jerk reaction to support an Ed Miliband speech.

But in Southwarkuntil ten years ago we had appalling council run education. Then a Labour government stopped Southwark running Southwark schools until a Lib Dem led council when the Labour government of the time felt the Lib Dems could be trusted. Labour had ground down state education they provided from the council via political correctness. Speaking to an old Labour guard he made it clear they loaded up governing bodies with Labour councillors and the like who opposed competitive sports, streaming and the like.

So why should we double penalise Southwark born residents who suffered at Labour’s hand with an inadequate education and then when they can’t find work during their adult life say they’re going to be tougher about allocating them council homes?

We need to redress the past historical mess of peoples education. Adult education is the key to this not cutting housing opportunities.