Sounds good, but...

We have to accept that the urge to regulate is hard-wired into Labour's DNA.  The problem is that if you give advance warning of how you intend to regulate what, you are simply giving those that will be regulated the opportunity to get ahead of the game.  We've seen it with the promise to freeze energy prices, which has resulted in consumers not getting anywhere near the full benefit of falling oil prices, because energy firms are wary of cutting their prices and then finding that they can't increase them when the price of oil recovers - as it will.  And now we have this idea of capping the amount by which landlords can increase rents - which of course will simply mean that landlords will factor that into the rent they charge initially, which will inevitably be higher that it otherwise would have been.  People aren't stupid!