Quite an Assumption Mr. Crossman has evidently firmly turned down
the plea made in the Milner Holland report for an end to the treatment of London's housing prob- lems as 'the sport of political prejudice.' He has, for example, rejected that report's important sec- tion on the rapid diminution in the stock of pri-
vate rented property available, and its suggestion that some fiscal encouragement is needed to gel private capital into this field. This follows fro the 'natural prejudice' against landlords whicll Mr. Crossman claimed in Monday's debate. HO Rent Bill, on the other hand, does not mall) follow from the Milner Holland report at all, i' spite of the reasonable enough 'anti-Rachman measures. The Milner, Holland committee tackle' London as a special case: Mr. Crossman has pro• duced an elaborate plan for control of rents which will apply to the whole country. I am filled with sympathy for the 'rent officers' and 'rent assess* ment committees' who will have to decide wha fair rents are. The approach is disturbingly vague and unreal. 'Consideration of scarcity is to be eliminated by assuming, in the fixing of rent, that the number of people seeking similar accommo• dation in the area is not substantially greater than the amount of such accommodation which Is available for letting.' Quite an assumption, one might say. Such a total elimination of the market forces is enough to make Mr. Enoch Powell, for one, throw up his hands in despair. And then there are the implications for the 'magnetic pull' of London in Mr. Crossman's acceptance of the idea that lower-paid workers will never be able to afford to live in London without heavy subsidies . . . but that is another, and alarming, story.
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