Alison McGovern was out on the morning round today, touting new research from Labour which suggests England has lost out on 212,000 new homes since the Tories ditched their housing targets. Whilst speaking to LBC, Alison pinned the blame for Britain’s building failures on Rishi, before setting out Labour’s stall:

“Well, it’s actually since Rishi Sunak dropped the housing target… Labour’s plan is to get on, build new homes, give people the opportunity to own their own home, and make sure every town or city has got a good plan for growth.”

Perhaps Labour could have picked a different representative to spin their housing plan, as McGovern’s track record suggests she doesn’t actually believe what she’s saying…

As a constituency MP, Alison has consistently opposed new housing developments – including against a new dementia care home in 2021 and a Wirral regeneration project in 2020. The opposite of giving her town “a good plan for growth”.

In both her positions, Alison deployed the usual NIMBY defence of protecting the green belt. The latest Labour line now is, of course, in favour of developing green belt land…