Orders of the Day — Rent (Agriculture) Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 4 May 1976.

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Photo of Mr William Rees-Davies Mr William Rees-Davies , Thanet West 12:00, 4 May 1976

I should be delighted to live in a tied house. In normal circumstances one would not be evicted. We cannot introduce legislation for the sake of 20 evictions in a country where there are many tens of thousands of houses. We do not legislate for the unique, specialised case, the numbers of which are minimal, as the hon. Lady knows.

I turn to the financial advantages, which are very great. For example, if the Minister were fortunate enough to have a flat or other accommodation close to the Palace of Westminster which he could provide for a secretary on beneficial terms, it would be extraordinarily advantageous. I merely underline that a person who can live in his accommodation rent-and rate-free has a very considerable advantage. That is why the workers do not want to be deprived of that opportunity.

I come to how we deal with the important question of the person who occupies a tied cottage during his working life—incidentally, the hon Member for Brightside is wrong about that—and is quite happy to live there because his only concern is what is to happen when he retires. How right he is. The point is that when he retires and may have to move out of that accommodation, it is right that accommodation should be provided for him. I can say straight away what should be done, and it is a course which the hon. Lady and her hon. Friends can now press the Chancellor of the Exchequer to adopt. They can insist that mortgage interest relief be given to anyone who purchases a tied cottage with a view to his retirement. At present, such relief is not obtainable. If it were given, it would enable people to purchase such cottages for their retirement.

I believe that there are two classes of people who are the tenants, licensees or occupiers of tied farm cottages. All of them want homes of their own when they retire. Either they would like the homes in which they are living—and in certain circumstances they might be able to purchase them—or they should be given the advantage through tax relief of buying tied cottages in the villages or areas in which they live at present with a view to their retirement.

If people are not in that position they will fall into one of two categories. I give the figures. At present, there are 63,000 out of 135,000 farm cottages which are subject to the tie. That is roughly half. Of those, 20,000 are tied but are let to pensioners. In other words, about a quarter of the total, thanks to the kindness and generosity of farmers, at present are let to those who have given them valuable service. That is a measure of the unique sense of loyalty of the farming community to those who serve them. Those 20,000 are people who are remaining in their cottages. Why should not they have the chance, which obviously the farmer would give them, to buy their houses, and why should not there be also a duty imposed upon local authorities to rehouse retired farm workers?

I cannot go along with the Liberal viewpoint that the farm worker should be given an absolute priority over everyone in every case. But I can go along with the argument that, if a man has spent a great many years of his life as a key worker in agriculture, he should have priority when he becomes a pensioner. If we do this, I believe that we can meet the position of those to wish to buy their homes and that we can also meet the position in part of those who ought to and want to become tenants of council houses. Incidentally, we can also meet the position, which is partly met, of those who remain in their tied cottages. I do not believe that it is impossible.

Of course, the real way to deal with this is to put an end to the acute shortage of rural housing. What has caused this is "Maynard's folly". The moment that it became apparent that the agricultural workers' union was successfully pressing the Labour Government, the result was many empty houses. There is an estimated figure of 12,000 empty cottages around the countryside. But it is not only there. There are many people who are willing to invest and to provide and build cottages for farm workers, provided that the tie is not removed. For, just as it is necessary to provide accommodation in hotels and restaurants or above small businesses to enable their owners the better to conduct them, which is the modern tendency, so it is necessary in the mining industry, in police authorities and in the Armed Services. It is one of the patterns of today to encourage people to live close to their work and to occupy the premises concerned at cheap rents.