London MPs today told how they could no longer buy a home in their constituencies on a £66,400 salary because of exorbitant house prices.
The Commons also heard how the “Islington dinner party” set’s “smugness” at spiralling property values disappeared when they realised their children could not buy a home.
Labour’s Heidi Alexander, Meg Hillier and Diane Abbott said even a well-paid professional cannot now afford a mortgage for a family house in their constituencies, or in some parts even a flat.
Lewisham East MP Ms Alexander told the debate on London housing she was not “pleading poverty”. But she added: “The capital’s housing crisis is as much about the young professional couple unable to buy their first home as about the family of five who rent an overcrowded flat from a slum landlord.”
Hackney South and Shoreditch MP Ms Hillier said: “Even someone on the generous salary of an MP could not buy a flat in my constituency.”
Ms Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, said three-bedroom houses could cost more than £1 million in Hackney. “That means I couldn’t buy a family house there on an MP’s pay if I was starting out now,” she added.
Islington South and Finsbury Labour MP Emily Thornberry said: “There’s the smugness of Islington dinner parties where people talk of their home’s rising value. Then they wonder where their grown-up children will live.”
Planning minister Nick Boles admitted London faces a housing crisis but partly blamed the last Labour government for failing to build more homes.
