Starmer has some big fights to come - and one is particularly toxic

1 week ago 7

Nobody doubts the level of ambition Keir Starmer is showing on housing. But will it work? That's unclear.

The prime minister acknowledges that 1.5m homes in this parliament is the hardest of his milestones to meet.

Today's plan tries to inject pressure on one corner of the system - the role of planning involving local councils.

There are new building obligations spelt out on a council by council basis. But it is not entirely clear what happens if it's not met or the council is not co-operative. You cannot really write local plans in Whitehall.

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Then there are other unsolved questions.

Unlike the last building revolution in the 1960s and 70s, this revolution will be undertaken by the private sector. So land value and interest rates and other things out of the control of government play a role.

Then, there are more difficult areas that slow down building - the proliferation of judicial reviews, consultations and the role of habitat and nature regulations.

All these are incredibly tricky to tackle - and, despite hints from the PM today, it's not clear they are being properly examined inside government.

Yet developers and experts say they're the key - and each involve big fights, the most toxic of which could be with the Labour-friendly environment movement.

There are routes through that do not come at the expense of basic rights and nature, but it will take skilled technocrats and careful political handling to achieve this.

The PM putting on a hard hat alone will not help him reach this target.

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