Rent increases are a problem in London – but not, really, for the rest of Britain

When I made my Dispatches documentary about generational inequality for Channel 4, I was struck by how many of the established facts in this debate fell apart upon scrutiny.

Yes, there are many legitimate grievances – which I covered in the film. But some of the supposed ‘nationwide’ problems are, in fact, no such thing. Take the national rent crisis, which led Ed Miliband to fight an election campaign which pitted the supposedly wicked exploitative landlords against tenants. He lost that election, in part because he had allowed himself to be sucked down rabbit hole of social media – and one of Londoncentricity. There are a great many problems facing people outside of the capital, but soaring rents is not really one of them.

As so often, London distorts the national figures – to the extent that they are no real reflection of the national situation. Strip London out, and things look very different as today’s