Ed Miliband is ignoring questions from broadcasters on whether the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors supports his rent caps policy following Guido’s story this morning. They have however rowed back considerably in a statement to Guido. Clarifying their earlier claim that RICS is “examining what an appropriate benchmark might be”, Labour now admit:

“RICs are developing proposals on long term tenancies and rent reviews linked to inflation or market rents as part of their Code of Practice for the Industry. We will look to build on their conclusions as we work with the industry to implement this policy in government.”

Which, RICS point out, does not mention benchmarking. They say “We do not recommend that a government introduce a ceiling on rent increases” and that rent caps are “not a solution”. That went well then…