Affordable. British. Priority.
Three very simple words. Apparently.
Terms and Conditions Apply takes aim at the language surrounding Labour and Reform’s competing housing promises. “Affordable” can still mean beyond the reach of the people supposedly being helped, while promises of priority for “British” people raise another deceptively simple question: who exactly do politicians mean? RebelliousBard isn’t interested in the headline. He wants to read the small print.
Good news.
They’re building affordable homes.
Affordable to whom?
Terms and conditions apply.
Another housing promise, another number on the screen
Thousands of affordable homes, whatever that might mean
Take the market price that’s already out of sight
Knock a little off the top and suddenly it’s right
Can’t afford the deposit, can’t afford the rent
But the minister says affordability’s money well spent
Same land, same shortage, same ladder pulled away
Just stick “affordable” on the brochure and everything’s okay
Don’t ask what the word means
Don’t spoil the surprise
It’s affordable on paper
Just don’t look at the price
Terms and conditions apply
Affordable homes that you still can’t buy
British first, that’s a lovely little line
Till you read the definition in the smaller type
Labour sells the promise, Reform changes the sign
Same housing circus with a different design
Affordable, British, priority too
Lovely little words
What do they mean to you?
Reform joins the party, fifty thousand more
“British-born” gets priority at the council door
Closer to the question, still dancing round the name
Another careful adjective inside the housing game
British when it suits them, British when they count
British when they tell you who gets what amount
Passport, place of birth, ancestry or home?
Funny how the meaning shifts depending on the tone
One word for the headline
Another underneath
By the time you’ve read the footnotes
They’ve already sold the dream
Terms and conditions apply
Affordable homes that you still can’t buy
British first, that’s a lovely little line
Till you read the definition in the smaller type
Labour sells the promise, Reform changes the sign
Same housing circus with a different design
Affordable, British, priority too
Lovely little words
What do they mean to you?
A passport tells me who the state accepts
It doesn’t tell me who my ancestors were
And affordable doesn’t mean I can afford it
Just that somebody wrote a definition for the word
So spare me the slogans
The launches
The plans
Tell me who gets the houses
And who owns the land
Build another thousand
Build another ten
Keep the prices climbing
Then subsidise them again
Protect the bloody bubble
Call the sticking plaster bold
Keep the young renting forever
While the assets turn to gold
Terms and conditions apply
Affordable homes that you still can’t buy
British first, but define it this time
Who exactly gets to stand at the front of the line?
Red tie, turquoise tie, promise redesigned
Same magic adjectives doing overtime
Affordable, British, priority too
Tell us what they mean
Before you tell us they’re for you
Affordable.
British.
First.
Three very simple words.
Apparently.