Starmer bets on housing over green belt in hunt for votes

Labour seems prepared to face down local protests in the push to build more homes, says Sean O’Grady

In his speech on Tuesday, Starmer promised to accelerate the building of new homes on unused urban land (Getty)

Keir Starmer has been accused of flip-flopping or being vague on policy. He was long on criticism, short on solutions, you might argue – hence why Boris Johnson tried to lumber him with the sobriquet “Captain Hindsight”. Yet now Starmer has committed to getting some 1.5 million new homes built over the course of the next parliament, if elected. The emphasis is on urban renewal and “brownfield first”; but also a pragmatic relaxation of some of the rules on greenfield development. The question is whether the “decade of renewal” he’s looking forward to leading makes economic, business or even architectural sense.

How will he get this done when the public finances are so tight?

This is the clever bit, potentially. It will all be done by grateful developers, relieved by Labour of pesky planning regulations, and in return for some contribution to the local infrastructure and concessions to affordable housing. “We have to challenge the planning laws, we have to get real about where we’re going to build and we have to work with developers to get there at speed,” he explains.