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Angry tenants rounded on Islington’s housing chief this week after he refused to rule out evicting residents threatened by government plans to triple rents.

At a packed Town Hall meeting in protest at the Tory Housing Bill, one woman challenged Councillor James Murray: “Will you evict people who can’t afford the rent? It’s a simple question.”

After being repeatedly asked, Cllr Murray replied: “I’m not going to go into that now.”

Later, pressed on whether Islington would evict households threatened by the bill’s “Pay to Stay” rules, Cllr Murray pledged: “We will do everything we can to help tenants who could be affected.”

Speaking afterwards, housing campaigner and Quaker Court estate manager Glyn Robbins said of Cllr Murray’s refusal to rule out evictions: “It’s disappointing but I understand the situation he is in. We need our representatives to be clear that they will be opposing the bill in any way but also that they’ll not evict anyone who becomes a victim of the Housing Act, if it goes through.

“Cllr Murray felt the heat tonight and some people will say it’s a bit unfair to focus that anger on him but at the same time this is a critical time for housing and he needs to be bolder. He needs to be making clearer statements and not equivocate because this is not a debate. It’s about power and challenging power.”

More than 150 tenants, trade unionists and campaigners voted unanimously on Tuesday to form a borough-wide campaign to fight the Housing and Planning Bill.

The Bill includes plans to extend the right to buy to housing association tenants, funded by forcing councils to sell off “high-value” properties, which Islington estimates could mean a loss of 500 council homes a year.

And under “Pay to Stay” plans, households earning more than £40,000 will be charged sky-high market or near-market rents, raising fears that many tenants could lose their homes.

Pleydell estate resident Sheila McBirnie told the meeting: “The community we have built over the years would be destroyed, with lots of families having to leave the area.”

Cllr Murray highlighted the negative impact of the proposals, but came under fire from people who felt he spoke as if the battle was already lost. The Bill is currently going through the House of Lords and much detail has yet to be decided.

One man challenged Cllr Murray: “You sound like you are totally resigned to it. We need to fight it.” An elderly Kings Square estate tenant added: “Why aren’t there more councillors here? Who’s speaking up for us? I don’t want to improve the Bill. I want to kill it.”

The housing chief replied: “We need community and tenant activism to push the government about the fact that the Bill has not been thought through. We need to continue to make the point that it’s going to hurt our community.”

Cllr Murray hit back at his critics, pointing out that Islington leads a four-borough group commissioning research to show the damaging impact of the forced sale of council homes.

He added that he led lobbying efforts to persuade housing associations not to accept the voluntary right to buy extension.

The government says the proposals in the housing Bill would help deliver a million new homes by 2020.

A Department for Communities and Local Government spokesman said: “There are billions of pounds locked up in high-value stock, which will be reinvested in building new homes that better meet local needs as well as supporting home ownership through right to buy.”

The event was organised by Islington Hands Off Our Public Services, an alliance of trade unionists and campaigners.

A further meeting will be held at the Town Hall at 7pm on Monday to coordinate the borough-wide campaign. For more information, contact Mr Robbins on 07411 557097.

A national demonstration against the plans will take place in central London on Sunday, March 13.