Abbott blasts millionaire Tory MP over Hoxton housing crisis

Diane Abbott confronted the prime minister in the Commons this afternoon, after it was revealed a millionaire Tory MP was hiking up Hoxton rent prices- leaving 80 families facing homelessness.

The MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington furiously blasted the Conservative party, and their MP for Newbury Richard Benyon, who has been accused of “social cleansing” by frightened Hoxton residents.

She said that Benyon, the countries richest MP was making a “distinctive contribution” to London’s housing crisis, and that his family company Benyon Estate “intended to drive up prices”.

Abbott added: “Families in Hackney are facing eviction and being put on the street. Is that the prime minister’s idea of compassionate conservatism?”

The New Era estate off Halcomb Street in Hoxton has provided affordable housing, but worried residents have already seen rates go up by 10 per cent in the last year, and now fear they will be made homeless by July 2015 after Benyon’s company bought up the estate.

Prime Minister David Cameron said: “We all know we need to see more houses being built, and over a fifth of affordable homes have been built in London.”

Mr Benyon was present in the commons during Abbott’s questioning.

Read the full story in tomorrow’s Hackney Gazette.