One of the surprises of the 2024 general election was Reform UK’s first real success at a Westminster election. Few would have guessed that Nigel Farage would be finally elected after seven attempts at Parliament, fewer that he would be joined by four Reform UK colleagues. Even more notable is that they came second in 98 (mostly Labour) constituencies, with 13 within a five percentage point swing.
Whether we like it or not, beating a currently minor party with little record or accountability will be a crucial part of securing the next Labour win at the general election. We have to take on the far right.
When it comes to housing this is particularly important, as Reform UK’s platform is as divisive as it is ineffective. So, what is Reform UK’s platform and why should it worry us?
What does Reform UK stand for on housing?
Reform’s housing policy is relatively detailed, including:
- ‘Loose fit planning’ policy for large developments, alongside brownfield passports to fast-track housing on urban land.
- A “UK Connection test” for social housing so that “foreign nationals must go to the back of the queue. Not the front.”
- Abolishing Section 24, which limits the amount of tax relief landlords can get on their residential properties.
- Abolish the (then) Renters’ Reform Bill.
- Minor reforms to leasehold to provide more clarity over charging and reduce the cost of renewing leases.
- Modernise innovative construction practices.
Migration is not the problem
Key to Reform UK’s housing policies, and broader argument, is the myth that migrants take up an unfair share of UK social housing.
Since their election, several of Reform UK MPs have submitted questions regarding how many asylum seekers are being housed in social housing in their constituencies, only to be corrected by the Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook that asylum seekers are ineligible for social housing due to having no recourse to public funds.
This is an oft-touted myth on the far right, that all social housing is allocated more favourably towards non British nationals. This has been debunked in a number of ways:
- Currently 90% of social housing residents are UK nationals, the same as their makeup of the national population.
- 17% of people born in the UK live in social housing, compared to 18% of people not born in the UK.
- Even if you want to take Reform UK’s bait of ‘non UK nationals’ meaning people outside of the ‘White British’ ethnicity classification, this is also untrue. The social housing survey shows that White British people are actually more likely to be in social housing than other ethnicities, comprising 77.6% of new tenures compared to 74.4% of the population.
This myth needs to be called out for what it is – a divisive attempt to create a bogeyman to justify the positions of Farage and his colleagues.
Caving in to vested interests
While claiming to stand up for the ‘little guy’ with this allocations policy, the rest of Reform UK’s platform is a clear pandering to those all benefitting from the housing crisis.
This is something which Reform UK is proud of, with Reform candidate David McLennan saying during the election campaign “We’re very much a landlords’ party”. This is true in more than one sense, with former Deputy Leader Ben Habib CEO of First Property Group and current Deputy Leader and MP Richard Tice still listed as a Partner at Quidnet Capital, a real-estate focused investment group.
Meanwhile, their tax policy heavily favours those with already substantial funds, including eliminating stamp duty for properties below £750,000 (over twice the national average), raising the Inheritance Tax threshold fourfold to £2m, and abolishing Section 24.
Not only would this benefit landowners in general, but specifically landlords. This has been backed up by the party’s opposition to the Renters’ Rights Bill, which eliminates Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions while keeping a number of routes for landlords to evict unruly tenants, and implements basic standards of accountability to the sector.
Finally, while the party may have a fig leaf to increasing home-building, the actions of Reform MPs have clearly shown a pandering to their most NIMBY instincts. This has manifested in a number of written questions to Ministers including about:
- Ensuring that housing targets did not negatively impact on local services (Nigel Farage)
- Asking that parish councils be included as a statutory planning consultee (Richard Tice)
- Enquiring about how local authorities could lower housing targets (Rupert Lowe)
A charlatan’s charter
It is clear from their policy platform that Reform UK have no serious plan to solve the housing crisis. Instead, their policy is based on clear disinformation, that migration is to blame for the UK’s housing shortage and that a pure deregulatory agenda will fix it.
Instead, they represent at best a lobby group for those whose interests lie in keeping the housing crisis unsolved, seeking to milk the housing crisis for all that it’s worth while failing to come up with any real solutions.