Populist politics thrive when people feel the system is not working for them. Nowhere is this clearer than in the housing system, which has failed too many for too long. Over 1.3 million homes currently sit empty, rents are at record highs, and many young people are forced to live with their parents well into adulthood. If Labour is to win against the populist Right, we must show that we can make the basics work for ordinary people. And being able to put a warm, safe, affordable roof over your head is surely the most of basic of rights.
Labour’s commitment to building 1.5 million homes within this Parliament represents more than just housing policy – it is a political opportunity. It is a chance to demonstrate that we can deliver real change. To show that we can tackle the cost-of-living crisis, drive economic growth, and equip a new generation with the skills they need to thrive. And in doing so we can undercut the populist playbook, help to repair some of the lost faith in mainstream politics, and provide the job opportunities that give people hope for the future.
We know the previous Conservative government failed to invest in council or social housing, failed to make the case for housebuilding, and failed to align our education system with the skills needed to build the homes we so desperately require. Not because the challenge was insurmountable, but because of a lack of political will. The consequences of this are stark. In 1991, 67 per cent of 23 to 34-year-olds in the UK owned a home. By 2024, that figure had fallen to around 15 per cent. Meanwhile, the private rented sector became unbalanced against renters, and our social housing stock was decimated from the Thatcherite Right to Buy policies of the 1980s.
Housing was never a problem that was going to be solved with a few tweaks. It needed a bold solution, and thankfully the new Labour government is committed to delivering that through both practical support and strong political messaging. I frequently say that skills underpin the ability of Labour to meet all its five missions in Government, but nowhere is this more obvious than in the goal to build 1.5 million new homes to finally deal with the supply problem that has characterised the housing crisis for decades.
So, what is Labour doing to support construction skills?
Firstly, we have allocated funding for 120,000 extra educational places for young people to gain construction skills. Providing opportunities for young people who are not academic, and holding technical training and qualifications in the same esteem as university, was an important pillar of Keir Starmer’s messaging in the lead up to the General Election. I was delighted to hear how much he valued technical education when announcing the skills mission at Mid-Kent College in my constituency last year, drawing on his father’s employment experience as a toolmaker. There is still more to do to improve people’s attitudes towards technical skills and knowledge of the career opportunities they can lead to. The Government’s planned overhaul of the National Careers Service, which will be more integrated with local Job Centres, gives us the opportunity to do this but we must start reaching young people earlier – ideally in primary school.
We have also created Skills England, a new body within the Department for Education, that I hope will be more nimble and responsive to business needs, and which will have clear Ministerial accountability to the Education Secretary. This link to business is important – we must make sure that we are giving people the training that will lead to a job at the end of it. Thankfully, our other reforms, such as scrapping the failed Apprenticeship Levy, will make it easier for businesses to engage with our currently complex and fragmented skills system. More details will follow from Ministers about how the new Growth and Skills Levy, which replaces the Apprenticeship Levy, will work. But we do know that it will be designed to be simpler and more flexible to business needs, two principles which have been hugely welcomed by employers, skills providers, and trade bodies, and particularly those in the construction sector.
I am particularly keen to see that the Growth and Skills Levy works for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). In Medway, which includes my Rochester and Strood constituency, over ninety per cent of all businesses are SMEs. This is a common situation outside our major cities. I know from my visits to local businesses and roundtable discussions that many SMEs do not engage with the apprenticeship system, although they would like to, because they have had bad experiences in the past trying to navigate it. While larger businesses have Human Resource departments that help with this, smaller businesses struggle both with the paperwork involved and the loss of a staff member for extended periods from the “shop floor” during training. It is imperative that Labour’s new system works for all types of businesses. Otherwise, areas like mine, whose economies and labour markets are dominated by SMEs, will not be able to see that extra money for construction skills translate into local jobs and economic growth.
It is giving people opportunities and a better quality of living that will help us tackle the threat of populist parties like Reform. The skills policies I have outlined above, combined with the £3.9bn per year for the next decade allocated to a new Affordable Homes Programme in the Comprehensive Spending Review, are major steps towards achieving that goal within this parliament. But this is about more than policy – it is also about persuasion. We must take the British people on a journey with us. We must win the argument that housebuilding is not just necessary – it is the right thing to do. It is right for jobs, for growth, for small and medium-sized businesses, and for the future of our communities.
Many of the UK’s think-tanks are analysing the recent local elections results that saw Reform do so well. One of the correlations with a high Reform turnout was a low percentage of people with degrees. One hypothesis is that opportunities for non-graduates are poor, and that this translates into a lack of social mobility and feelings that the system does not work for them. Well paid, skilled jobs, like those in construction, are a straightforward way that Labour can tackle this. Doing so will not only provide the opportunities that people from non-graduate backgrounds want and need, it will also help us build the decent quality homes that many people feel have fallen out of reach. By tackling these twin concerns around jobs and homes, we can start to make people feel the system is working for them again thanks to a Labour government.
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One reply on “Can building homes help Labour beat populism? ”
The upfront carbon emissions from building 1.5m houses with the associated services and infrastructure could exceed the carbon budget for the whole economy as the Government might discover when its carbon reduction plan is tested in the High Court this October. New building should be limited to meeting genuine needs and policy should focus on reducing under occupation (80% of houses have at least one spare bedroom with most having two spare as well as the 1m empty). The majority of voters are opposed to Reform’s denial of climate change and that is where Labour should focus.