Southwark Lib Dems Force Historic No Confidence Vote Over Labour’s “Serious Failings” in Housing

• Southwark Lib Dems force a historic no-confidence vote in Labour’s leadership after independent government regulators expose “serious failings” in housing.
• Labour-run Southwark Council slammed for shocking housing failures, including 50% of homes without smoke alarms, 2,000 overdue fire safety actions, and record levels of complaints.
• Lib Dems demand accountability, calling for Council Leader and senior Labour councillors to go and an independent oversight board to fix Southwark’s housing crisis.
• Housing Minister confirms they are “monitoring the case closely” and is “extremely sorry to read about the experiences of residents living in Southwark Council housing.”

The Southwark Liberal Democrats have successfully forced an Extraordinary Council Meeting, where they will table a vote of no confidence in the Labour administration following independent findings of serious failings in the council’s housing management.

The Extraordinary Meeting is set to be the first time opposition councillors have successfully called one in 15 years, underlining the seriousness of the situation. 

The Labour Mayor had initially refused to call the meeting, but upon appeal to the council’s non-political top legal officer, that decision was overturned. The whole council will now have to meet on the 26th February to consider the Liberal Democrats’ motion.

The UK Government has now expressed concern over the scandal, with Housing Minister Baroness Taylor of Stevenage confirming she is “monitoring the case closely” and is “extremely sorry to read about the experiences of residents living in Southwark Council housing.” The government’s response follows calls from the Liberal Democrats for ministerial intervention, as Southwark’s housing crisis deepens.

The Liberal Democrats describe the meeting as a “landmark opportunity for change”, with their motion setting out the Regulator’s judgement of serious failings alongside a series of other housing failures uncovered in recent times. 

Recalling the high profile Major Works failures, rip-off district heating systems, and record levels of housing complaints, the motion concludes that residents have “had enough of apologies”, and calls for a vote of no confidence in the Leader of the Council and other cabinet members who have held responsibility for housing in the period covered by the regulator’s judgement.

If successful, the motion will also call for an independent oversight board to monitor progress, made up of Tenants and Residents Associations (TRAs) and chaired by an independent leading figure in the housing sector.

As reported in Private Eye’s Rotten Boroughs column, the Regulator of Social Housing gave Southwark’s Labour-run council a C3 rating—the second-lowest possible. The investigation revealed:

• 50% of council homes lack smoke alarms
• 50% of council homes lack up-to-date electrical safety certificates
• 2,000 overdue fire safety remedial actions, nearly 100 of which are high risk

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Leader of the Opposition Cllr Victor Chamberlain said: 

“Enough is enough. Decades of mismanagement and neglect have left residents unsafe in their own homes. The regulator’s findings confirm what residents and campaigners have been saying for years—this administration has failed to look after residents’ safety and wasted millions in the process. It’s a damning indictment of those Labour councillors who have overseen this decline. 

We have heard enough apologies – it is time for those responsible to go. We have no confidence that the same Labour councillors that got us into this mess can get us out of the hole Southwark’s housing is in.”