Angela Rayner and Andy Burnham are treating the public like mugs, but they won't fool them for long, according to a column by Harvey Jones.
Labour's housing pledge under scrutiny
Under Keir Starmer, Labour pledged to "get Britain building again", promising 1.5 million new homes over the full Parliament, an average of 300,000 a year. The plan did not explain how it would be achieved, aside from threatening to build on the green belt and giving Rayner a hard hat and high-vis jacket.
Builders lacked the capacity to build that many homes, and nobody else was going to do it. In reality, builders were cutting back as inflation drove up the cost of workers and materials, and rising mortgage rates hit demand and prices.
Economic pressures on builders
Chancellor Rachel Reeves's £25 billion "jobs tax" squeezed profit margins further, as did her two inflation-busting minimum wage increases. Rayner's Employment Rights Bill heaped on more pressure.
By June this year, just 392,400 homes had been added during Labour's term, roughly 100,000 a year fewer than promised. Half of this has been wiped out by new demand created by immigration.
Rayner's target admission
Rayner admitted that building 1.5 million homes is a "really difficult stretch target", but still claims it hasn't been abandoned. Housing minister Matthew Pennycook is blaming the Iran war for driving up costs.
Building each new home costs £76,000 more than in 2020, with more than £23,000 of that down to government taxes and regulation, according to the Home Builders Federation.
Burnham's council housebuilding promise
Andy Burnham has doubled down on Rayner's pledge by promising the biggest council housebuilding programme in England just after the war. His £39 billion spending commitment may only deliver up to 15,494 homes per year, even if Chancellor John Healey can provide the money.
Rayner and Burnham won't come anywhere near hitting those targets, because those targets are pure fantasy. By expecting the public to believe otherwise, they're taking them for fools.
