The Conversation (0)
Politics
Kate Plummer
Apr 20, 2021
PA/ Nick Ansell
A Labour candidate has been thoroughly derided after deploying some pretty obvious analysis about millenials and the housing crisis.
Paul Sweeney, former MP for Glasgow North East and a candidate for the region, faced a backlash after implying millennials don’t think about rent being more expensive than a mortgage.
He said: “Do millenials ever stop to consider how ludicrous it is that most are paying more in rent each month than they would if they had a mortgage on the same property?
“They’re working to pay off their landlord’s mortgage, funding their lifestyle. All for the sake of a mortgage deposit.”
Err...
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Quick to let Sweeney know that yes, of course millennials are acutely aware of how difficult it is to get on the housing ladder and are under no illusions about where their rent goes, people on Twitter responded. Journalist Jonn Elledge said:
While Dawn Foster added:
Meanwhile author Elizabeth May said he was being “condescending”.
That Sweeney is learning about the housing crisis now is surprising, given how much is made of it. A recent report published by the government found that 538,000 private renters struggle to make ends meet, for instance. And the phrase ‘generation rent’ is cemented into our collective consciousness.
Meanwhile, in 2017 Australian real estate mogul Tim Gurner was lambasted after he suggested millennials could afford property if they stopped buying avocado on toast - ridiculous but also a sacrifice to horrific to contemplate.
But for some reason, Sweeney who is apparently a politician, believes that the issue is niche and hasn’t been discussed in the mainstream. This is, of course, akin to a 16-year old ‘discovering’ The Smiths for the first time and believing themselves to be ahead of the curve.
And, as a result, the roasts rolled in:
Oh Sweeney, we too remember our GCSE politics essays. We look forward to hearing him urge people to turn off the lights in a bid to stop climate change, and proclaiming: “did anyone ever stop to think that like, homelessness is bad?”