Richard Tice Vows to Send Foreign Nationals to Back of Social Housing Queue, Prioritise British Workers

Reform UK MP Richard Tice has vowed to prioritise young British workers, married couples and veterans for social housing, arguing that the system should reward people who work and contribute rather than operate solely on the basis of need.

Mr Tice said Reform would introduce a “suitability test” alongside the existing needs-based approach, giving priority to British-born workers under 35 and veterans who have served in the armed forces. Speaking to GB News, he was challenged over whether the proposal represented a revival of Conservative policy first put out for consultation in January 2024, ahead of that year’s election pledge.

“It sounds a bit familiar to me. Is this a copy and paste of Tory policy?” he was asked.

“No, the difference is we would actually do it,” Mr Tice replied. “The British people are sick and tired of Tory waffle, Tory talk and no action, and that’s the reason they got thrown out after 14 years of failure.”

Mr Tice said Reform’s proposal was intended to fix what he described as a “broken” social housing system. “The affordable housing system in this country is broken, and only Reform will fix it,” he said. “By prioritising young British workers, young British married couples, young British veterans who’ve served their country, they should go to the top of the queue on what we call a suitability test, as opposed to a needs test.”

He compared the approach to the post-war expansion of council housing associated with former Labour minister Aneurin Bevan, arguing that “the role of the British Government is to look after the British people.”

Mr Tice also pledged that Reform would build an additional 50,000 affordable homes a year for the next decade, with details of how the policy would be funded set to be announced at a Reform press conference. Drawing on his own background in construction, he claimed to have built more homes than the previous 24 housing ministers combined. “Mind you, you could say that’s not that difficult, given the incompetence of those who came before,” he added.

He argued that young people who work and follow the rules should not be left stuck living with their parents into their thirties. “It’s just not fair, it’s not the British way,” he said, adding that the policy was part of why he believed Reform was “leading back in the polls” with what he called the right offer for young British people.

Mr Tice was also challenged over Reform’s proposal to remove foreign nationals from social housing, and the legal challenges it could face. He said the policy would come with a grace period of at least three months, and acknowledged that changes to legislation would be required. “We have to change some legislation around the Human Rights Act and the Equality Act,” he said.

He defended the policy on grounds of fairness. “You don’t expect to rock up to someone else’s country, not work, and expect by way of a right or entitlement for their local taxpayers to pay for you to live in subsidised housing,” he said. “The right thing to do is to work and pay your own way.”

Addressing critics of the policy directly, Mr Tice said: “To all the lefties whingeing and whining, the role of the British Government is to prioritise British citizens. We can’t house the world, we can’t feed the world. It’s about focusing on our own populations, our own people, before we start giving money away to others.”

He claimed that only 27 per cent of social housing lettings last year went to people who were in work, arguing this showed the current system was unfair. “We want to bring back a degree of fairness and motivation and encouragement to our young people,” he said.