The Liberal Democrats are calling on the Conservative
Government to repeal the "Right to Rent" law, after the
Court of Appeal found that it causes racial
discrimination.
The law, part of the Conservatives’ Hostile Environment, makes it
a criminal offence for landlords to rent to someone without
proper immigration status.
The Conservatives attempted to introduce 'Right to
Rent' checks in 2014, but the Liberal Democrats blocked
them. However, the Conservatives rolled them out across England
in 2016 and created the new criminal offence in the Immigration
Act 2016, which the Liberal Democrats opposed.
In March 2019, the High Court ruled that the 'Right to Rent'
checks are discriminatory and therefore breach fundamental human
rights. However, Conservative Ministers have refused to scrap the
law and instead appealed the judgment to the Court of Appeal.
Responding to the judgment, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs
Spokesperson said:
"Liberal Democrats blocked the Tories’ 'Right to Rent' checks in
Government precisely because they are discriminatory. Now that
the Court of Appeal has confirmed that this law causes racial
discrimination, Ministers must urgently repeal it.
"The Windrush Scandal should have been enough for the
Conservatives to drop their nasty Hostile Environment policies.
Instead, they’ve wasted taxpayers’ money fighting in the courts
to keep these pointless, discriminatory checks that turn
landlords into border guards.
"Liberal Democrats are fighting to scrap the Hostile Environment
and replace it with an effective, compassionate fix to the
immigration system."
ENDS
Notes to editors:
The judgment can be found here
