I have thought long and hard about the lifetime tenancy issue with council housing. I do understand that David Cameron was looking at how to help the poorest, that he was not talking about altering the current tenancies and that it is only a suggestion. But it is wrong and better suited to the corporate boardrooms of New Labour than any party that’s proposing a Conservative ideology.

There are three reasons why this is wrong.

Firstly it puts a terrible disincentive to find work. Iain Duncan Smith has quite rightly talked about the benefit system not penalising people for working. Well, losing your home is a penalty in most people’s book.

Secondly it degrades communities. People invest in their community when they know they will set down roots. If they know that they may not have a choice then they will simply leave.

The third is one that should really make any Tory think again about this. It will give Labour councils the power to evict people, and more to the point Labour councillors. Do we really want a return to the days of “take that poster down or you’ll lose your house”? Labour councillors used to treat Bridge as a vote bank, and would refuse to help people looking to buy their home. What would they be like if they had the power to throw Tory council tenants on the street? Or even the potential to influence this?

Middle class Labour councillors are irritated by middle class Tories, like me, but they really despise working class Tories. To any Tory councillors reading this, do you want John Cook, Sandy Martin or David Ellesmere influencing housing decisions about your voters who live on council estates? You know the Labour group dislike you, but that’s nothing to council tenants who display what Orwell called “wrongthink”.

There is an alternative, and it was tried in the 1980s, council house sales. This will cement people into their community far more effectively, and improve the quality of the housing stock. And this time allow the proceeds to be used to build new council housing (with a right to buy). You can also look at schemes such as rent to mortgages and self management of estates. These are clearly definable policies which cut down the power of government in people’s lives, increase the stake that people have in their community and vastly improve the quality of people’s accommodation.

All of these options are far more “big society” than giving Labour councillors the power to elect a new people.