John Spellar - I was proved right over MoD homes
A Government decision to sell off military housing in 1996 has been branded 'a lousy deal' for taxpayers and troops.
The Ministry of Defence lost up to £4.2bn by selling 55,000 service homes to Annington Property Limited, according to a report by the National Audit Office.
John Spellar, the Labour MP for Warley, who warned against the sale at the time, said: “Unfortunately I was proved right.
"It was a lousy deal for both the taxpayer and our brave troops. This was unfortunately not only entirely predictable but predicted.”
A new NAO report found that increases in housing prices over the time since the deal was struck mean the Government is between £2.2bn and £4.2bn worse off than it would have been if it had kept the properties.
The report adds that the Government now faces a battle to avoid paying billions of pounds to Annington’s private equity fund in a new negotiation over renting back the estate to accommodate servicemen and women.
Annington Homes, which is managed by offshore tycoon Guy Hands’ Terra Firma group, is expected to demand a huge increase in rent paid by the MoD when the current agreement ends in 2021.
