Deputy Director of the Adam Smith Institute Sam Bowman was quoted in The Scotsman and the Yorkshire Post criticising Labour’s pledge to cap rents from rising above-inflation for the next three years. From The Scotsman:
Think-Tank hits out at Labour rent caps
Labour leader Ed Miliband’s pledge to cap above-inflation rent rises for three years if elected is a “stunningly bad” idea that could hurt those it is meant to help, a free market think-tank said yesterday.
The Adam Smith Institute said it would “shift risk from landlords to tenants” because it encouraged landlords to “price in” rent rises at the beginning of the tenancy.
Deputy director of the institute Sam Bowman said: “Labour has unwittingly announced a policy that could devastate Britain’s cities and exacerbate the housing crisis."
From the Yorkshire Post:
But introducing rent control was called “a stunningly bad idea that could clobber renters” and “devastate” cities, by the free-market Adam Smith Institute think tank.