Labour raps Hodge over call to house 'Britons first'

Margaret Hodge's chances of surviving as a minister under Gordon Brown were fading after her call for a "Britons first" housing policy came under fire from all sides of the Labour Party.

Two deputy leadership candidates accused the Industry minister of pandering to the British National Party, while even a close ally of Mrs Hodge admitted her ideas would lead to immigrant children being treated unfairly.

Mrs Hodge, the MP for Barking where the BNP has made spectacular council gains, provoked anger when she argued that people whose families had been in Britain for generations should have priority for social housing, even if migrants were in greater need.

She said policy should be rebalanced to give more weight to the length of residence, citizenship and national insurance contributions. Mrs Hodge won public support for her views in a BBC poll yesterday, but Mr Brown's allies pointedly refused to back her and colleagues queued up publicly to distance themselves from her.

Alan Johnson, the Education Secretary and deputy leadership candidate, said she had got her facts wrong, as immigration was not causing problems with social housing allocation. He added: "The problem with that is that's the kind of language of the BNP, and it's grist to the mill of the BNP, particularly as there is no evidence that there's any problem in social housing caused by immigration, none whatsoever."

Jon Cruddas, another deputy leadership contender, said: "Housing is allocated according to need and it is disingenuous for Margaret Hodge to suggest otherwise. The problem is lack of housing supply and it's a shame she wasn't so vocal in the campaign for the building of more council housing."

Mr Cruddas, whose Dagenham constituency borders Mrs Hodge's, added: "Margaret is on the wrong side of the debate by focusing in on racialising allocation policies rather than the fundamental issues which are all about the lack of supply of affordable housing units. That creates the context in which the BNP can move in and racialise debates around access, based on patterns of migration."

Mrs Hodge faced further embarrassment when Harriet Harman, whom she is supporting for the deputy leadership, condemned her opinion. Ms Harman said: "It's particularly important that children should not be treated unfairly simply because their parents have arrived here recently. We cannot conduct our housing policy on the basis of how long people have been in the country.

"Black and ethnic minority families suffer worse social housing problems that other groups. We have to prioritise more affordable housing, that's the key to this. Margaret is a dear friend of mind and has done some excellent work as an MP and minister but sometimes even close friends will take a different view."

Peter Hain, another deputy leadership candidate, and Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, have also condemned her views.

But a poll for BBC2's The Daily Politics found widespread backing for Mrs Hodge, with 69 per cent of those questioned agreeing that "British citizens should always get priority for social housing ahead of immigrant families", against 27 per cent who disagreed.

However, 56 per cent said her comments were "unwise" because of the danger they might damage community relations, against 38 per cent who thought she was right to speak out.

The BNP's council group leader in Barking and Dagenham, Richard Barnbrook, reportedly tried to deliver a bouquet of white lilies to Mrs Hodge's constituency office to thank her for appearing to back his party's policy.

Mrs Hodge could not be contacted for comment last night.