Keir Starmer has bold plans for housing but we need to see the detail
Today’s big story is a scoop: Labour’s plan to try to fix the UK housing crisis.
The party remains anxious about accusations it will concrete over green belt countryside. Nevertheless, Keir Starmer and shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves will make housebuilding central to their speeches at Labour’s conference in Liverpool.
The two of them feel trapped between demands for radical solutions to some of the deep challenges facing Britain, and the absolute need to win public trust on the economy.
Their private research shows this continues to be a weak point for some voters. So expect iron discipline on talk about public spending.
How are they trying to square this on housing, then? By offering property developers new opportunities to build… and taxing them on those profits, to fund social housing. We will need to examine the policy detail and the sums before passing a verdict.
Subscribe to our outstanding journalism for less (and we’ll plant a tree)
i’s marketing team have been drinking strong coffee again. Whenever they run a discount on digital subscriptions, I include a link here, since I know some of you read online as well as in print.
Well, this time they excel themselves. If you join i as a digital subscriber now, you get £30 off the price (£39.99 a year, not £69.99)… and a free £10 book voucher… and we’ll plant a tree.
Plus you get full access to our journalism on the website, app and expert newsletters.
You can find out more at inews.co.uk/subscribe-offer.
i subscribers help to fund honest reporting and intelligent opinion, with fewer of the nasty additives found elsewhere. Thanks to all readers for your support!
