Sadiq Khan’s at it again with his latest genius plan: let prisoners jump the housing queue. Speaking at a Times conference yesterday, London’s Mayor bemoaned the “big shortage of housing in London” and proposed his brilliant fix – give criminals a head start. Khan argued we need an “honest conversation” about letting some prisoners “jump in the queue to get housing to avoid them reoffending again.” Handing out houses to freed criminals isn’t exactly the magic fix to stop prisons from overflowing…
Nigel Farage was quick to blast the Mayor, tweeting: “Sadiq Khan wants free housing for criminals and illegal migrants. And he wants you to pay for it all.” Prioritising criminals over hard-working, law-abiding citizens. That’ll go down well with the public, no doubt…
Commons sniping has kicked off again this afternoon with Parliament’s return. It was Rayner’s turn first for oral questions on housing. The Tories had some choice words when it came to Labour reducing London’s housing targets and raising them elsewhere…
This month it was revealed Sadiq Khan managed to build just 2% of his affordable housing target. At the same time the government has slashed London’s total target by 17,000 annually. Labour’s explanation: “We will ensure that we are pushing the mayor on a realistic, but achievable, target.” Does that mean the government’s view is that Khan’s own manifesto targets are unachievable…
Badenoch took a dig at Rayner on that line: “She attempts to explain why she’s reduced Sadiq Khan’ London targets and even more when she highlights that he’s consistently under-delivered but my question is: if other local leaders miss their new housing targets, will she reduce their targets too?” Bluster in response..
The GLA has this morning released the latest housing figures which show that last quarter only 71 affordable homes were completed. Precisely 2.3% of the 3,000 Khan would have to build to meet his targets…
In the “starts” section, which counts projects that have just begun, Khan tops up his overall figures with ‘open market’ completions which he has nothing to do with, as well as completions from his previous programme. Scraping the barrel…
Rayner has had no qualms rebuking Khan over London’s abysmal housebuilding (while slashing London’s targets) – these latest figures will no doubt add fuel to the fire. Tory assembly member Lord Bailey has written to Rayner asking her to put the Mayor’s Office and GLA in special measures such that they can receive “tailored” (and mandatory) support in actually building some houses. Ouch…
Read Bailey’s letter below:
Landlords are selling up shop amid fears Labour will whack up capital gains tax and and implement further regulation, according to a survey by The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ (RICS). From May to July, landlords instructing estate agents fell by 16% overall, dropping by a whopping 59% in East Anglia and 39% in the East Midlands. Sell now or pay later…
The survey points the blame of the drop of buy-to-lets at Reeves and her clan’s likely tax rises, coupled with the new Renters Rights Bill, which ends fixed-term penalties meaning landlords cannot make renters leave without clear fault-based grounds. Meanwhile, the number of houses to rent has dropped by nearly half since 2019 – and rent is only going up. Yet again the effects of a so-called ‘pro-growth’, planning reform orientated Labour are coming to light. And this is just landlords reacting pre-emptively…
Some manifesto pledges Labour made are just not going to happen. Miliband’s pledge to totally decarbonise electricity supply by 2030 is away with the fairies. Expect that to be revised by reality soon.
The other ambitious pre-election pledge was the pledge to build 1.5 million homes by the next election. 300,000-a-year, or 25,000-a-month. Today the Housing Secretary Angela Rayner told MPs the Government planned to oversee building of 370,000 homes every year, up 70,000 from the figure Labour promised in the General Election. The target for new homes is now 1.85 million homes within five years – more than 30,000-a-month. Last quarter there were 22,310 housing starts nationally. To meet their target they will have to quadruple the pace of building. It is doable if the government has the will to drive it whatever the cost in terms of votes…
Was this increase triggered by the taunts of Kemi Badenoch? Kemi wickedly identified that it won’t be easy:
🔥 @KemiBadenoch gives Angela Rayner and Labour a reality check. pic.twitter.com/VtNlZugK4k
— Conservatives (@Conservatives) July 19, 2024
In the UK, a house or a flat is counted as started on the date work begins on the laying of the foundation. The figures are released quarterly, economists expect some 50,000 starts this quarter. Rayner will need to accelerate that dramatically, press releases are easy to send, laying bricks is much harder. Guido wishes them well, we’ll be tracking how they are doing on making that target every quarter…
One of Starmer and Reeves’ key messages as they entered Downing Street was clear: build, build, build. To many YIMBYs it was a relief to hear Labour signalling the drive to build new houses – their target isn’t small either, planning to build 1.5 million homes in the next 5 years. Though it looks like Starmer’s beloved European Court of Human Rights may end up getting in the way…
Now lawyers are warning that these plans could risk breaching human rights law over the government’s proposal to reduce compensation to landowners forced to hand over their assets. Tom Barton, a partner at law firm Mishcon de Reya, told The Telegraph:
“The ECHR protects the right to peaceful enjoyment of one’s possessions and respect for your right to a home, and capping compensation at ‘existing use value’ could be considered an infringement on this right. If this is a reform the Government is serious about pursuing, the likelihood of challenge is high.”
It’s not the only Labour plan that the Strasbourg court could block – Labour have also been warned that their VAT raid on private schools is “likely illegal”. The ECHR has long been a hot topic of debate – Sunak had said he’d consider leaving the court if it blocked flights to Rwanda, while Starmer has pledged to “never leave” it. Yesterday Nigel Farage called for a referendum on leaving the court. Starmer will soon have to get to grips with the fact that delivering on his promises is more difficult than he may have thought…
