Labour's Anneliese Dodds has responded in terms to a challenge from Tory agent Paul Swaddle over her letters to Council tenants warning that key senior Conservative politicians have discussed increasing rents to market levels and replacing their security of tenure with Assured Shorthold Tenancies renewable every six months.
Mr Swaddle had said that these were "false claims" but Anneliese says there are no falsehoods in the letter, which is based on fact.
"If you wish to contest its contests," she goes on, "then you will need to provide evidence that the following has not happened:
"A group of Conservative council leaders, senior advisors to Boris Johnson, senior party advisers and the Conservative Housing Spokesman, Grant Shapps, met at a private gathering at which plans to end security of tenure and equalise rents across sectors were discussed at length.
"If this meeting did not happen I would be greatly relieved, however Labour has the notes and names from the discussion, which would rather suggest that the meeting DID occur.
"The notes from this meeting, obtained by Labour, conclude that the Conservatives' 'priorities' were to "equalise rents between sectors" and "create one form of rented tenure using the assured shorthold tenancy". Again- if these notes are erroneous I would be delighted to hear it, however I doubt this is the case.
"David Cameron, George Osborne and others have consistently maintained that Conservative Councils illustrate what a Conservative Government would be like. Again, I would be delighted if the Conservative leadership would distance itself from attacks on tenants prosecuted and planned by leading Conservative Councils at their secret meetings.
"However, despite Labour's Housing Minister John Healey having written on a number of occasions to leading Conservatives on this issue, and issuing an open challenge on this matter during the Party Conference season, David Cameron has refused since July of last year to distance himself from these attacks (despite having been given every opportunity).
"Given the importance of housing stability for council tenants we should take these issues seriously and be open about them, rather than trying to brush them under the carpet (as you appear to do in the content of your email below, which entirely fails to engage with the content of the letter to tenants)."
"We have the Tories bang to rights on this," she concludes, "as we have on the other charges which they keep on saying are lies. They are not called the CONservatives for nothing."
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