Category: Class of 2024

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Blog Post Class of 2024

The Retrofit Challenge: Why Leasehold Flats Risk Being Left Behind

As legally-binding zero carbon emissions targets for 2050 approach, the urgency to decarbonise the built environment has never been greater. Our homes account for 20% of national greenhouse gas emissions, largely due to reliance on fossil fuels for heating and hot water. Around 80% of today’s housing stock will remain in use by 2050, so retrofitting existing homes is key.

The scale of this challenge is immense. Retrofitting 29 million homes within 25 years demands not only technical innovation but also a coherent policy framework. Without decisive action, the UK risks falling short of its climate commitments, with significant implications for the environment and the cost of living.

High energy bills continue to place pressure on household finances. More than three million households in England currently live in fuel poverty. Retrofitting offers a clear and measurable solution. Citizens Advice estimates that upgrading all homes to at least Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) Band C by 2030 could result in nearly £24 billion in direct savings on household bills. These savings would ease financial strain for millions of residents and contribute to broader economic gains, bringing close to £40 billion in benefits to the economy by 2030 alone.

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Decarbonising leasehold flats is vital

Among our housing stock, leasehold flats represent a substantial and often overlooked segment. Approximately 4.83 million homes in England are under leasehold arrangements – nearly 20% of all dwellings. Many of these (3.5 million) are flats, which pose unique retrofit challenges.

The importance of including leasehold flats in our national retrofit strategy cannot be overstated. Leaseholders in these homes already bear a disproportionate financial burden, particularly in relation to building safety issues stemming from remediation of historical construction flaws and the new regulatory regime. In addition, leaseholders often face dual energy charges, paying not only for their individual flat but also contributing to communal energy expenses. This layered financial responsibility means leaseholders typically incur significantly higher costs than the average resident.

Special attention required

Retrofitting leasehold blocks presents distinct physical and logistical challenges that set these properties apart from detached or semi-detached houses. The shared nature of these buildings – walls, roofs, staircases, floors, etc. – means that energy efficiency upgrades cannot be carried out by singular good-faith actors in isolation.

For example, installing cavity wall insulation in a single flat is often impossible – the cavity runs the full height of the building and thus must typically be installed in an entire block. Similarly, fitting solar panels on the roof of a leasehold block requires collective consent, as the roof is a communal asset. The same applies to replacing communal windows, installing heat pumps, or undertaking any structural changes that affect shared areas. Coordination across all leaseholders and the freeholder is essential, and often difficult to achieve.

Legal and financial constraints

Legal and financial constraints also present significant obstacles to retrofitting leasehold flats. Many leases contain restrictive clauses that prevent leaseholders from independently undertaking energy efficiency improvements. These provisions, often designed to safeguard the structural integrity of the building and protect other residents, inadvertently block even modest upgrades such as installing insulation or replacing windows. As such, many retrofit initiatives affecting communal infrastructure, or one flat, must navigate a complex web of permissions and approvals.

Meanwhile, in most cases, leaseholders are only responsible for paying for routine repairs and maintenance, not for enhancements or improvements. This distinction means that retrofit improvements usually need to be funded entirely by the freeholder. While this arrangement shields leaseholders from incurring unnecessary costs for unwanted building enhancements, it also creates a significant retrofit barrier.

The cost of retrofitting, then, is another major hurdle. Energy efficiency improvements can be expensive. Existing government funding schemes often overlook the unique challenges posed by multi-occupancy buildings, leaving leasehold flats underrepresented in national retrofit efforts and often blocked from accessing funding.

The role of the APPG for Future Homes, Skills and Innovation

Even with consensus and financing, retrofit delivery is often delayed by shortages of skilled tradespeople and materials, making improvements time-consuming and resource-intensive.

Thus, retrofitting leasehold flats demands more than technical fixes. Namely, investment in skills and a culture of innovation. This is where the APPG for Future Homes, Skills and Innovation comes in.

With 70% of the 2030 retrofit workforce already in employment, we must upskill existing workers, expand apprenticeships and align technical education with industry needs. Faster adoption of new technologies and a clear vision for housing delivery are critical.

The APPG is calling for targeted training to close the retrofit skills gap, funding schemes that support collaboration on leasehold properties, and joined-up policy across housing, skills and climate adaptation. It also champions UK-led innovation to improve housing quality and energy efficiency, ensuring homes are both warm and healthy.

Government intervention is essential

Without reform, this significant segment of our housing stock risks being left behind in the Net Zero transition.

The forthcoming Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill presents a timely opportunity to address these issues. By introducing implied terms that exempt energy efficiency upgrades from restrictive lease clauses, leaseholders would be empowered to take action. These reforms, together with skills and innovation, will be key to creating sustainable, future-ready homes.

Under the current system, the leasehold sector cannot be ignored on the race to Net Zero. The Government is already making real progress towards its Net Zero 2050 target and tackling fuel poverty through its Plan for Change, which is driving up housing standards and cutting energy bills by requiring all private landlords to meet EPC Band C or higher by 2030. The forthcoming Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill is the next chance to turn that momentum into lasting change, bringing an end to the feudal leasehold system and removing barriers to energy efficiency upgrades.

By taking decisive action, the Government can ensure that leaseholders are not left behind. The benefits – lower energy bills, improved living conditions, and a healthier planet – are too important to ignore.

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Blog Post Class of 2024

Safe homes for survivors of domestic abuse – what does Labour need to do?

I fear that too often violence against women and girls is consigned to being a single issue, when in fact it is something that pervades every level and aspect of society. It touches every realm of policy, and it requires a holistic response.

That’s why I am very much looking forward to the Government’s upcoming Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy. It is vital that we have a truly cross-Government, cross-departmental response to this pandemic facing women and girls. Every Minister knows that they both individually and collectively have a role to play in tackling VAWG, and ministers in MHCLG have a particularly key responsibility given domestic abuse is both the third most common trigger of homelessness and the leading cause of homelessness among women.

A little over a year ago, at Labour’s Conference, I was in the hall to hear the Prime Minister make a historic pledge that this Labour Government will ensure that no victim of domestic abuse is left without a home. In December 2024, as part of a £1 billion package to tackle homelessness, the Government provided over £633 million to the Homelessness Prevention Grant, which supports councils to provide temporary accommodation to people like those fleeing from domestic violence, constituting a £200 million increase. In July 2025 the Government ended the local connection test for victims of domestic abuse, removing a key barrier to those seeking refuge outside of their local authority area.

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We have made good progress, however we must continue to push in the right direction. It is imperative that victim-survivors can access safe and secure emergency accommodation, as well as affordable long-term housing options.

We need to ensure that every victim is able to access high-quality emergency accommodation, delivered by specialist VAWG services, when they need it. Part 4 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 already places a statutory duty on Tier 1 local authorities to assess need and commission emergency safe accommodation for survivors.

Long-term chronic underfunding, however, means that the specialist services providing emergency refuge are operating on a knife edge. As a result, refuges currently must refuse 65% of requests for a place and community-based services can only support 50% of people who ask for help. We are left with an indefensible situation now where over a quarter of domestic abuse services are having to turn away children. Despite year-on-year increase in refuge bedspaces, Women’s Aid research in 2025 found available vacancies have been decreasing since 2019/2020, largely due to the £321 million shortfall in government funding for local specialist women’s domestic abuse services. This inadequate funding must be addressed.

And there is also a particular dearth of refuge space for victims with no recourse to public funds or victims who are wheelchair users. As a result of poor provision, we see far too many victims being placed in unsuitable accommodation such as B&Bs, hotels, and hostels, where they do not feel safe.

The increasing prevalence of short-term contracts for specialist services, something which almost doubled from 2022 to 2024, has knock-on implications for retention of staff and expertise and forces those services to divert resources away from frontline support and towards often overly complex and inefficient re-tendering processes.It’s therefore key that we place specialist services on a sustainable footing with multi-year funding arrangements. This must include ring-fenced funding for ‘by and for’ services who support ethnic and other minorities, often ignored for larger but less specialised institutions in large part due to short-termism and underfunding.

There are 270 Multi-Agency Risk-Assessment Conferences (Maracs) across England and Wales, which are meetings in which the local police, health, child protection, Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (Idvas), probation and other specialists share information on victims at the highest risk of harm from domestic abuse. A quarter of Maracs in the UK have not received any referrals from their local housing agencies, which means this vital, protective forum is missing out on information crucial to victims’ safety.

MHCLG this year conducted research on this issue and found that implementation and multi-agency working in relation to housing is very patchy and variable across the country. To address this, all housing providers should work towards DAHA Accreditation which is the UK benchmark for how they should respond to domestic abuse.

We need to do better when it comes to linking health, social care, and housing given Independent Domestic Violence Advisors in health settings often raise housing as a major issue. What do they do, for example, with those who are fit to discharge from health settings but who are not safe to discharge?

This is why we need a ‘Whole Housing Approach’, as advocated by Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse and the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance. A Whole Housing Approach brings together all housing tenure types, with a Housing Coordinator to amplify effectiveness, limit blind spots, and reduce the risks associated with of moving between provider types, such as dangerously long waiting times or losing eligibility for support. Some local authorities have already adopted this with success. Islington and Chesire East councils were both awarded the DAHA Platinum Accreditation for ensuring that survivors of domestic abuse get the best possible response around their housing needs, thanks to their Whole Housing Approach.

We also need mechanisms to support victims to stay in their own homes. We should remove perpetrators and be brave about housing them away from victims rather than expect the victim to uproot their lives. Sanctuary schemes, where hardened security measures such as reinforced doors and alarms are installed, reduce the need for survivors to leave their homes, local support network, and children to leave their schools. These were proven to reduce homelessness applications as far back as 2010 and were recognised as a form of safe accommodation under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, however they still suffer from varied levels of council buy-in and administrative delays.

Where victims have to leave, we must improve support to re-locate including increased deposits for new tenancies, or what are called ‘managed reciprocals’ to move victims to social tenancies in other local authority areas whilst retaining their tenancy. These schemes are mutually beneficial for councils that collaborate on them and help prevent loss of a social tenancy which is a devastating form of re-victimisation.

Across all tenure types there must be statutory training of staff to be able to spot and respond to domestic abuse, with a clear process of referring them to specialist domestic abuse organisations. Research shows that victims experience abuse for an average of almost three years and seek help from multiple services before receiving effective support. Professionals lack skills in identifying abuse, asking the right questions, and effective referral. Within the healthcare sector staff training has been found to increase domestic abuse identification rates by 30%.

There is also an economic case for investing in an improved housing response to domestic abuse victims. A recent study by the University of Central Lancaster and Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse, has proven a Whole Housing Approach not only prevents homelessness but would save councils money. Over £10 is saved for every £1 spent across public services thanks to avoided costs such as police time and NHS responses.

Unlocking the potential of housing for growth and security is key to this Government’s Plan for Change. I am hopeful that through our planning reforms and our upcoming VAWG and homelessness strategies, we will be able to tackle the scourge of violence against women and girls and meet our commitment to halve it within a decade.

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Blog Post Class of 2024

Labour’s first year in Government has kickstarted a generational uplift in social housebuilding

Like many in the Labour movement, fixing the housing crisis has been a key priority for me before and throughout my journey into politics.

Throughout my early career working on planning reform in the Treasury, to co-ordinating between boroughs at regional and sub-regional levels, to directly programming and delivering social homes in local government, the challenge and potential of social housing has been ever-present to me.

Every social home we build represents a household with a stable roof over their head, shielded from the increasingly unaffordable private rental sector. It is a child who is protected from moving miles to a new school after being rehoused into temporary accommodation; it is a pensioner freed from the worry of their rent increasing beyond their fixed income; it is a carer whose Local Housing Allowance is being reinvested into the state rather than funnelled into a landlord’s bank account. Most importantly, every social home we deliver puts the sector as a whole on a firmer footing, guarantees stable income to run a sustainable service, and provides a tangible asset for registered providers to lend against in building even more social homes.

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It is easy to pin the blame for the state of social housing on the first introduction of the Right to Buy, which led to the mass sell-off of council homes, but we cannot let the past 15 years of neglectful Tory Governments of the hook either. From cutting the Affordable Homes Programme by 40% upon entering office, to supercharging the Right to Buy, as well as suppressing rents for years, the Conservatives enabled the sell-off of social homes while stripping away the ability to build more. From 2012 to 2024, 124,000 homes were sold on the Right to Buy, at the same time as the number of households in temporary accommodation increased to 127,890.

This alone is challenging enough, but the Conservatives’ decisions on housing delivery were also deeply harmful by letting developers off the hook with a range of intermediate tenures. The introduction of affordable rent in 2011, and the inclusion of student accommodation and build-to-rent housing within planning guidance from 2019, have all funnelled crucial developer contributions towards other tenures and further weakened social rent.

The fact that this has come at the same time as a historically difficult environment for delivery has resulted in a perfect storm preventing new social homes. Supply chain inflation and skills shortages have all increased the cost of building, at the same time as social housing providers have faced financial squeeze from introduction of important regulation in building safety, social housing regulation, as well as the pressing need to decarbonise our housing stock.

The result has been profound for the sector, as the delivery of new social homes slumped from 60,000 in 2010/11 to under 10,000 in 2023/4.

We need safer, warmer, and better-managed social homes, and we cannot expect social providers to deliver this alongside more homes without substantial support.

And this is exactly what the new Government has provided. Within a single year of power, Labour has introduced a number of reforms which will not only prevent the sell-off of social homes and laying the groundwork for a generational boost to this most important tenure which was laid out in our manifesto.

The Government has curtailed the Right to Buy, reducing the available discounts and setting forward a number of new reforms including ensuring that council tenants are truly long-term residents by ensuring that they have lived there for ten years, removing newbuild council homes from the Right to Buy, and preventing homes sold through the Right to Buy from being let out in the private rental sector.

Importantly, the Government also made it easier to build new social homes, through reforms to planning and focus increasingly on social rent. Three particular changes here have been particularly exciting to me: the decision to instruct England to focus Affordable Homes Programme spending on social rent; the new Compulsory Purchase powers in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill which will allow local authorities to purchase land for social homes at use value, rather than inflated ‘hope value’; and the ‘golden rules’ allocated to ‘grey belt’ sites of low-quality land on the edge of cities, which will prioritise the development of affordable homes.

Finally, the Government has provided a stable financial footing at the most recent Spending Review for registered providers to increase supply at pace. Alongside the much-discussed £39 billion Affordable Homes Programme, other grant funding for decarbonisation and building safety will reduce the pressures faced by the sector to bring existing stock up to date, and a ten-year rent settlement will bring their revenue in real terms back up to 2015 levels and enable for longer term business planning.

The significant investment in social housing by this Government shows a key recognition of the value of a social tenancy.  But we cannot rest on the laurels of this progress and we need to continue to find and address faults preventing the development of new social homes.

One of these has to be around developer contributions, the Section 106 process and viability assessments. Local authorities and housing campaigners rightly complain that developers too often sidestep contributions, make the most of loopholes, or renegotiate affordable housing requirements after Section 106 agreements are made, and discerning what is a reasoned response to a fast-changing delivery environment is challenging. This is particularly the case as we look more and more on land value uplift to deliver what the state has failed to do for the past 15 years, whether that is building roads, GP surgeries or schools, or building social homes. We need streamlining of this process to ensure that agreements are conducted transparently and enforced effectively. Prioritising social rent and empowering local authorities to scrutinise developer claims, would all help in this area.

The Government also needs to press forward in its work to reform the Building Safety Regulator. Social housebuilders are those with the least resources and are more likely to be looking into building high rises than homes for market sale, and so ensuring that mandatory guidance is given beforehand and that feedback from failed applications is readily available is crucial as the new regime embeds itself.

Finally, social homes need to be at the heart of the Government’s New Towns vision. If these are to live up to their promise and deliver genuinely new communities in new settlements or urban extensions, then affordable and secure options need to be present for those priced out of home ownership.

Labour’s record of delivery on housing policy in its first year of government has been impressive, and I am proud of the work already done to lay the groundwork for the generational boost in social housing as promised in our manifesto. Undoing decades of decline under the previous Government’s tenure will have a meaningful impact on living standards and make meaningful progress on the human consequences endured by the hundreds of thousands of people in temporary accommodation.  We must continue to act quickly and decisively and to prioritise any measures which will create more social homes, and to deliver the change which millions of people voted for a year ago.

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Blog Post Class of 2024

Tackling the Housing Crisis: How the Planning and Infrastructure Bill will unlock Britain’s potential

Places and people are why I entered politics. When I decided to run for council leader three years after I first entered local politics, after a decade of  Conservative government and cuts to local authorities, I campaigned on a platform of reversing the decline and stagnant growth my local area faced. Regeneration and planning became a cornerstone of my ambition from leading council-led regeneration, which included thousands of genuinely affordable homes, to progressing a new Local Plan that designated space for 30,000 new homes alongside new schools, GP surgeries and parks.

Importantly, part of the Local Plan that I led on included re-designating green belt land for housing. Far from lush, biodiverse fields, this green belt was truly grey belt land – garden centres and golf courses right next to train stations – perfect for desperately-needed family-sized, affordable homes. The local Conservatives campaigned against the project. Their anti-growth sentiment was also reflected at a national level by their colleagues in government, who repeatedly failed to address the housing crisis and to deliver vital infrastructure projects during their 14-year tenure.

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As the newly elected Member of Parliament for Barking, I am constantly reminded of the human cost of the Conservative’s failure to tackle the housing crisis. Every week, I meet constituents who share with me their personal and desperate stories about overcrowding, years spent in temporary accommodation, poor-quality housing, and sky-high rents.

Barking has a rich history founded in its industrial heritage – including the former Barking Power Station –  and as home to the UK’s largest council estate built after the First World War as part of the Government’s ‘Homes Fit for Heroes’ scheme.

That legacy of pioneering council housing continues today. Inside Housing reports that Barking & Dagenham Council tops the national list of council housebuilders. Between 2023-2024 the local authority built 879 homes, with a further 1,901 set to be completed in the next five years. They have also just adopted a new Local Plan, with the vision to construct 50,000 new homes by 2037, so that my constituency can remain a place where working Londoners can raise their families in secure and decent homes. Labour locally and nationally is on a mission to tackle the housing crisis at its root, by increasing supply, but too often, support for new homes is a national patchwork. For every council championing new homes, there are others where the political culture is centred around blocking them.

I know from my own time as a councillor that resilient local politicians can make or break a housing project. MPs and Councillors are good at engaging with residents – after all, we run elections and win them – but not all planning committees are robust or resilient enough to take on anti-developer campaigns, even when it’s clear that an area is in desperate need of investment and regeneration. Equally, I’ve seen too many examples of councils too anxious to have an area-wide conversation about housing by developing an adequate Local Plan, and instead rely on unplanned development. Over 60% of local authorities do not have an up-to-date Local Plan – the appropriate vehicle to set out a vision for new housing in an area.

That’s why I was pleased to sit on the Bill Committee for the Labour Government’s new Planning and Infrastructure Bill which – alongside changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) last year – represents the biggest reform to housebuilding and planning in a generation. It introduces major reforms to the Town and Country Planning Act, compulsory purchase rules and the current infrastructure regime while introducing a Nature Restoration Fund to facilitate Environmental Delivery Plans. Changes to legislation effecting development corporations will expand the development of New Towns. The Olympic Park, the regeneration of Canary Wharf and the Docklands are just some examples of successful projects led by development corporations that have transformed parts of East London into economic hubs, now home to thousands of families.

The Bill also includes measures to modernise planning committees, empowering local leaders to make regeneration schemes and ambitious Local Plans become the norm, not the exception.

The over-use of council planning committees can slow down decision-making and result in councils losing appeal when committees have refused applications against the recommendations of their officers, or even when development was previously agreed in a Local Plan. The voices of people who need housing go unheard in debates. New standardised delegation schemes will ensure the right decisions are being made by planning officers, using a local authorities’ Local Plans as the basis for decisions, with more significant applications continuing to be made by planning committees.

Next, investment in infrastructure is essential to bring forward larger sites and to address residents’ concerns. In my own constituency of Barking, I have witnessed these challenges firsthand. Barking Riverside is a development on the Thames Estuary that includes over 10,000 new homes. It has a new overground station, industrial sites, commercial businesses, community centres and several schools. However, the area does not have a GP surgery – something I am campaigning on today. Adequate Infrastructure Delivery Plans alongside Local Plans will help councillors hold developers to account. 

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill puts infrastructure at the heart of development. Currently, the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) regime, used to approve most major infrastructure projects, has failed to deliver critical infrastructure on time. The National Infrastructure Commission reports that decisions for major projects now take over four years compared to two and a half years in 2010. 

The Government’s new Bill removes the statutory requirement to consult as part of the pre-application stage for NSIP applications. The changes will mean that delays are reduced, and essential infrastructure is consented to faster. That will save up to 12 months from the pre-application stage and millions, if not billions, of pounds. It could make the difference between whether an infrastructure proposal is viable or not, and between whether homes are built in an area or not. Crucially, communities will still get a chance to oppose new projects as part of the post-submission stage.

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill maintains the existing legal and policy protections that ensure that irreplaceable ancient woods and trees are protected, while also delivering a more strategic approach to improve the environment. The introduction of a Nature Restoration Fund will facilitate the implementation of Environmental Delivery Plans (EDP), this new holistic approach will move away from the single development assessment model and put forward conservation measures in consultation with Natural England, and other key stakeholders, like our British farmers across the country, the reforms will maximise environmental protection and improve public access to green space.  

Ultimately, if a Government is serious about tackling the housing crisis, then this country must get building. Much of the debate on the Government’s planning changes has focused on objections based on environmental concerns. But the truth is, this landmark Bill will streamline and accelerate the delivery of 1.5 million homes, that are so desperately needed. It will help reverse the decline and stagnation I first stood against as a council leader, set out a strategic approach to mitigate the environmental impact of new homes, and ensure places and people benefit from Labour’s Plan for Change.  

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Blog Post Class of 2024

Ending rough sleeping can be achieved under Labour

In March, over 7,000 people were sleeping rough in England. It is a national scandal and one that Labour is determined to fix.

When I became Deputy Leader of Milton Keynes City Council, it was known as a “city of tents”, with those without a place to stay setting up camps in our city centre, beneath our underpasses, and next to our train station.

Rough sleepers had become a political football for a Conservative Party seeking to divide and degrade. Suella Braverman, as Home Secretary, claimed that living from a tent was a “lifestyle choice”, and the national number of people sleeping rough began to tick up once again. Britain stood on the precipice of a homelessness crisis, and the government didn’t just ignore it – they demonised the most vulnerable in our society.

Yet, as a national crisis brewed, things looked very different in Milton Keynes. With my background in homelessness, I alongside colleagues across the council set about changing the situation in Milton Keynes by first recognising that it is at its heart a people not a housing issue. Rough sleepers are often the product of being let down by their parents, by the system or by the state.

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The tents were just a symptom of a deeper issue, of people trying to cope with their past and current trauma by making sometimes self-destructive decisions as a way to survive. This explains the over representation of people who grew up in care, with domestic and sexual abuse and who have been in prison. They had often been repeatedly failed by the fragmentation of support and passing between services and charities.

It was only by designing the system around the people who needed it, can we create a system where leaving the streets can become a reality for them. The first step was to consolidate the Milton Keynes homelessness services under one roof. At the Old Bus Station, the local council established a new shelter for rough sleepers. It implemented a no second night out rule effectively running SWEP all year round. The emergency beds we offered were important, but not as vital as the medical services, including a GP and addiction services, probation support and other public sector support services that were available on the ground floor. Local charities were encouraged and enabled to provide services directly at the bus shelter, dishing out hot meals, befriending and providing access to laundry equipment.

That is not to say that there are no more rough sleepers in Milton Keynes. For those who do not want to engage or accept a place at the shelter, every morning council officers check on them, building the rapport that will encourage them to engage. People with a history of rough sleeping may not be successful on their first, second or even third attempt, but I made sure that support was more widely available in Milton Keynes.

Since being elected last July, this Government has been committed to supporting homeless people, not attacking them. The Government has doubled our emergency homelessness funding to £60 million as an immediate support for councils to keep people in their homes. This is in addition to the £1 billion already committed this year to tackle the root causes of homelessness, including the largest ever investment in preventative services, so we can put in place long-lasting solutions, not just sticking plasters, to end this crisis.

The Chancellor has also outlined the biggest investment into social housing, including council houses, for a generation in her Spending Review, with £39bn being allocated to providing the housing families deserve. The Renters’ Rights Bill progressing through Parliament will finally ban no-fault evictions, stopping tenants founding themselves without anywhere to go unexpectedly – and our manifesto commitment to fight for the “hidden homeless”, who get by each night through sofa-surfing, will act further to intervene on the path of homelessness before it leads to a night alone on the streets.

Nothing underlines our commitment to making tackling homelessness a top priority than our decision to finally scrap the unfair Vagrancy Act, an archaic and outdated law that criminalises those with nowhere else to go. Within Parliament, a cross-departmental group has been established by the government to liaise with my colleagues on the backbenches who have lived experience with tackling homelessness, or experience on the streets, with ministers and Secretaries of State consulting directly with us and taking on board our feedback for the upcoming governmental Rough Sleeping Strategy. Initiatives from departments all across government are acting to support those who need it most, with our reforms to job centres, with a record investment into back-to-work support, helping across society, including those with experience rough sleeping. I am so proud to say that it has all gone a bit Milton Keynes – the Government is focused and committed to tackling the causes of homelessness, and this is only the start. Whilst the previous government had laid down a muddled path towards a Tent Nation, we’re fighting back and treating everybody with the humanity and respect that everybody deserves. That shouldn’t be political – it is what we owe everybody in society.

The impact of these changes almost goes without saying. Many of my colleagues have lived experience of sleeping rough, and they know the difference support makes. The amount of potential being squandered by our failure to support homeless communities is a national scandal, and these changes will allow us to support people off the streets and into the professional life where they can offer so much to so many. An ounce of moral fibre is all it takes to compel you to tackle homelessness, but as we make growth our priority, a workforce fulfilling their true potential – not letting it lie dormant in hostels and underpasses – will help us build a better, more decent Britain.

There’s always further to go. We know that the frontline of supporting homeless people is local government, and if an authority is committed to supporting their rough sleepers, they can achieve tremendous things – just ask Milton Keynes. With a supportive framework from Westminster, local authorities can create a seamless web of support that matches the needs in their place.

Everywhere should be a bit more like Milton Keynes. When it comes to rough sleeping, this Government should take that advice.

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Blog Post Class of 2024

Tackling second homes and short-term lets is key to addressing rural inequality

I am lucky enough to live in Falmouth. My ex-husband and I got a mortgage on a house here 20 years ago when we had two salaries and had each sold the previous homes we had before we got together. I would never have been able to do so on my own. Now, despite my lack of DIY skills and its rather ramshackle appearance, this house has become a home where my small family has its roots. Our homes are extensions of ourselves. And everyone deserves the chance to turn a house into a home.

What I have come to realise during my time in politics—both on Cornwall Council and now as an MP—is how lucky I am to have somewhere to call home in the first place. So many people don’t have that. There are over 800 households in emergency or temporary accommodation in Cornwall.  Conversely, there are people for whom a house, will always be an investment, whether as a pension pot or a business. Where some people see shelter, warmth and stability, others see financial security or profit. 

Statistics from the council tax base tell us that there are approximately 13,000 second homes registered in Cornwall. That is nearly 5% of the total housing stock, and nearly five times higher than the average across England. In Cornwall, there has been a ‘First Homes Not Second Homes’ campaign for many years to restore the balance because of this issue.

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And it’s not just about providing a roof over people’s heads. The taxpayer has lost about £20 million per year as a result of the loophole allowing second homes to be registered as holiday lets for business rates purposes. As short-term lets often fall under small business rates relief, they will pay neither council tax nor business rates. During Covid, approximately £170 million went to the owners of properties that were registered as businesses in pandemic business grants. Over £100 million of that went out of Cornwall.

This government is already making strides against this. The Renters’ Rights Bill will help ease the short-let scourge. During the second reading of the Bill I said that I could see many benefits for the people in Truro and Falmouth who rely upon the Private Rented Sector (PRS).  At the census, 20% of households in Cornwall lived in private rental including almost 30% of households with children under 10.  There has been a noticeable uptick in Section 21 evictions in recent years affecting families with young children. 

A Section 21 notice, also known as a “no fault” eviction, initiates the end of a short hold tenancy without the landlord having to give a reason to the tenant. Section 21 eviction is traumatic enough. In coastal areas the trauma is exacerbated. Because of our geographical spread, many evicted families are placed in holiday parks, caravan sites, and hotels up to an hour and a half drive from their previous place of residence and with poor rural transport links this can often lead to families completely cut off from their jobs, schools and support networks. All because a landlord wants to cash in. Under the new legislation Section 21 evictions will be abolished.

We know that families are routinely—and suddenly—evicted from their rented homes by a Section 21 to feed the culture of landlords “flipping” to more lucrative short-term holiday lets. The Renters’ Rights Bill will put an end to this and give families the time to seek housing in the same areas, keeping kids in school and maintaining a vital support network.

This Bill is the most significant package of reforms to the PRS in over 40 years and it will deliver on Labour’s manifesto commitment to provide greater security and stability for more than 11 million private renters. Reform of the sector is long overdue and the Labour Government has achieved in four months what the Tories failed to do in four and a half years.

Unfortunately, the law, which should pass before the summer recess, will come too late for many families in Cornwall who have already lost their homes. That was why it was imperative that the Bill be passed, to provide future protection against discrimination for those in receipt of benefits or with children or who have a pet in their home, with the tenant able to challenge unfair decisions.

Cornwall has a history of seeking PRS reform. An inquiry into PRS by Cornwall Council’s economic growth and development overview and scrutiny committee was published in 2020 and recommended a number of measures: to extend licensing powers; data gathering on PRS for landlords and tenants; DBS checks; longer protected terms; and limited annual rent increases. However, in the wake of the covid pandemic and further local government cuts the measures were delayed and when the administration changed to a Conservative one they were too wary about upsetting landlords so none of the recommendations were enacted.

As a result the PRS has been decimated in Cornwall with many landlords selling up or “flipping”, including conversions to holiday homes. Prices have skyrocketed and many local people struggle to find homes. There are around 24,000 holiday let properties in Cornwall, which is up 30% on 2019. Cornwall is also the local authority with the largest supply of short-term lets outside London. 

That is why I am so pleased and relieved that this Renters’ Rights Bill has been prioritised by this Government, and it will bring in many measures that were in that original Cornish report. These changes will really support the security of privately renting families in Truro and Falmouth and across Cornwall where we’ve had a sustained housing crisis for years now and buying or even renting a house has become out of reach for most people.

I was also pleased to see that this Government will be investing £39 billion over the next decade in a new Affordable Homes Plan. The biggest cash injection into social and affordable housing in a generation.  I am determined that some of this will come to Cornwall so that we can build some of these places like Langarth Garden Village and Pydar in Truro, with infrastructure in place before homes are built, and decent housing that’s affordable for people who work locally. Angela Rayner wants a new generation of council housing to be her legacy, and I want to help that happen in Cornwall so that families have the stability that they crave to be able to get on in life.

Reform of culture, however, is much harder than the reform of law. In Britain, we all know that a man’s home is his castle. We also know that a man can do whatever he so wishes with his castle. The issue is that, as a country, and a county, we have taken that notion to the extreme with places such as St Ives and Port Isaac becoming ghost towns except in summer. We need to be much tougher and we need more protections in place.

In parliament, I’ve suggested a four-step toolkit of measures to the new Housing Minister. Firstly, we could enact the Registration Scheme for first time lets as set out in the Levelling Up Act. I know the Government are working on a database system to do this. We would then know how many there were and where, and could make fire and safety checks mandatory and give local authorities the power to grant or revoke registration and inspect the properties. It would be a similar scheme to the licensing of houses in multiple occupation (HMO), which currently only applies to homes registered for five or more people; it would seem sensible to increase the scope of HMO licensing as well to cover smaller properties.

Secondly, we want the business rates/council tax loophole closed. It should not be possible to pay no council tax or business rates on a property; it is just not fair. 

Thirdly, Cornwall and many councils have already voted to double the council tax on empty second homes, and Cornwall has asked the Government if it can triple it. Given that the council was Conservative-run until last month, and that this decision was agreed on a cross-party unanimous basis, it shows how severe the problem has become in Cornwall. If we were to implement that, every time the council tax was doubled it would raise £20 million. However we do know that people are changing their behaviour to avoid this and so that figure is likely to decrease quite steeply on a year on year basis.

Finally, we could potentially create a planning use class for short-term or holiday lets, so that homeowners need to actively apply for permission for the change from “lived in” to “holidayed in”—changing the default that the Conservatives suggested. 

These are measures we could see in the toolkit, which could be given to local authorities who could decide how much or little to do, depending on how big or small a problem it was in their area. The toolkit could form part of any devolution package.

Time has shown that the rebalancing of our housing market isn’t something that is going to happen on its own. We need the tools to do it. In only a year Labour have shown that they care about housing and the rental sector in a way that previous governments simply didn’t. We’re only beginning. The fight back to restore balance to second homes and short-term holiday-lets has begun.

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Ending out-of-borough temporary accommodation must be a key part of Labour’s mission

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Before the 2024 general election, the housing crisis in Britain had reached truly critical levels, with one of the most visible and harmful symptoms being the increasing use of out-of-borough placements. These occur when local councils, unable to find suitable or affordable accommodation within their own boundaries, place households—often vulnerable families with children—in temporary housing far from their local communities, family, and connections. 

The root causes of this phenomenon are clear. Between 2010 and 2024, successive Conservative governments oversaw a sharp decline in the construction of social housing, despite rising demand and a growing need for decisive action. A recent report by Shelter emphasises that between 2014-2024, we’ve seen a net loss of 260,000 social rent homes. Combined with the erosion of local authority budgets and a creaking planning system, out-of-borough placements became the defining symptom of a deeply ineffective national housing strategy. 

These placements often have severe and negative consequences. Families are torn away from schools, jobs, and support networks, placing an enormous strain on mental health and family dynamics. Children must often change schools with little notice, and parents may lose access to childcare, employment, or vital community support structures.  

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Out-of-borough placements provide no solution to Britain’s housing crisis—they simply shift the pressure elsewhere. Receiving councils often lack the resources to accommodate incoming households, while the demand artificially drives up local rents and reduces availability for residents. I’ve seen this first-hand both as a local councillor and now an MP in my own constituency, Gillingham and Rainham.  

That is why, since taking office in July last year, this Labour government has taken strategic steps to address both the immediate harms and the underlying causes of out-of-borough placements. At the heart of this effort is a dual approach: reducing the need for such placements by increasing the supply of affordable homes and improving oversight and coordination between councils when they do occur. 

Paramount to this strategy, is the government’s commitment to building 1.5 million new homes by 2029, including a substantial expansion of social and council housing. Alongside nearly £40 billion for affordable and social homes announced at the recent spending review, we are introducing local housing targets, streamlined planning, increased ‘land value capture’, devolved housing responsibilities, collaboration with private investment, and the strengthening of tenancy rights through the transformative Renters’ Rights Bill. Combined, these measures will enable us to deliver the biggest boost in social and affordable housing in a generation.  

As a member of the Housing, Communities and Local Government (HCLG) Select Committee, I have repeatedly called for increased data tracking and measurement tools to give us greater insights into this problem. Currently, no centralised record exists, making it difficult to understand the true scale of displacement and to plan appropriate interventions. Without this shared measurement platform, it becomes increasingly difficult to form an effective national strategy. Therefore, I am pleased that the government has announced it will make data more publicly accessible, as well as working with local authorities and MHCLG’s expert homelessness advisors closely to ensure data quality and reporting practices improve. This is an important first step. 

I have also advocated for a review of the funding allocation model for local authorities, having seen first-hand the inefficiencies of our current system as a local councillor. Presently, host councils are often penalised for hosting out-of-area placements, as housing benefit and homelessness support funding are tied to the placing authority. In November 2024 the Government announced that from 2026/27 it will move gradually towards an updated allocation system for council funding. This will build on the proposals set out in the previous Government’s Review of Relative Needs and Resources (the ‘Fair Funding Review’). 

Critically, the HCLG committee have proposed strengthening communication protocols between local authorities, requiring councils to notify and consult with each other when placing families beyond their borders. This measure aims to reduce friction, increase accountability, and ensure that vulnerable families are not abandoned in unfamiliar locations with no authority to turn to for support. 

Whilst these are initial steps, they are vital in allowing us to build a coherent plan of action to tackle the scale of out-of-borough placements. With local authorities’ use of temporary accommodation increasing by 9% in London, 50% in the South East of England, 73% in the South West, and 216% in the North East, the need to undertake more formalised monitoring of the use of out-of-borough placements is key. The government’s focus on data, coordination, and housing supply is beginning to shift the conversation. Local councils and housing charities have reacted positively to the renewed emphasis on long-term solutions rather than temporary fixes, but there is still much work to be done. 

Alongside this, the strengthening of tenants’ rights through new legislation will also help us to combat the problem. This Labour government’s new Renters’ Rights Bill, which abolishes Section 21 “no fault” evictions, will help reduce the flow of households into temporary accommodation in the first place. Many out-of-borough placements stem from sudden evictions, especially in parts of the country where the rental market is unregulated and highly competitive. By removing the means by which rogue landlords evict families at short notice, we can prevent even more people from entering this negative cycle or relocation. 

The broader housing strategy fundamentally lays essential groundwork for reducing out-of-borough placements over time. The Prime Minister’s ‘Get on and Build’ mantra is epitomised by recently announced new powers for councils to keep housebuilders on track, and a promise for housebuilding timeframes to be set before planning permission is granted. Developers who repeatedly fail to build out or use planning permissions to trade land speculatively could face new ‘Delayed Homes Penalty’ or be locked out of future permissions by councils. The message from this government could not be clearer, it’s time to build at scale. 

The HCLG’s recent report investigating the ‘Crisis in Temporary Accommodation’, gives key insights and recommendations for how we can combat the national housing emergency. The initial steps mentioned are key, but there are future changes which should be considered to meaningfully reduce out-of-borough placements and restore housing stability. 

As highlighted, the creation of a national database would be significant. By introducing a central record of out-of-borough placements, local and national authorities will be better equipped to identify trends, coordinate responses, and evaluate the effectiveness of current policies. This should help to prevent families from falling through the cracks and ensure that vulnerable households receive appropriate follow-up care. 

We should also ensure that housing targets are matched by delivery mechanisms. This means reforming the planning system to prioritise affordable and social housing, empowering local authorities with land-buying powers, and enabling councils to borrow and build at scale.  

Lastly, the voices of those with lived experience should be central to policy design. Families who have been moved miles away from their communities know better than anyone the emotional and practical toll this system imposes. Their insight can help shape both placement policy and housing strategy for a more effective system overall. 

Out-of-borough placements are a stark symptom of a housing system that has long failed to meet people’s needs. The previous government’s inaction allowed thousands of families to be displaced from their communities—isolated, unsupported, and increasingly dependent on temporary housing. But with a renewed focus on building homes, reforming placements, and restoring local capacity, this Labour government is beginning to chart a new course. 

It won’t be fixed overnight. But by championing a ‘build now’ principle and improving oversight and coordination between local authorities, we can ensure that housing policy no longer uproots lives—but helps people plant roots instead.

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Safe as houses: how this Government is putting building safety at the top of the agenda.

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The UK has a housing crisis. After 14 years of failed Tory government, the symptoms of this crisis will be all-too-familiar to so many of our constituents. From skyrocketing rents to unaffordable homes, the housing shortage is having a huge impact, and this Government has rightly prioritised addressing this.

But there is another side to the housing crisis that is equally important: building safety. Events of recent years have put this issue at the forefront of our national conversation about housing. It has been eight years since that terrible night in June 2017 when the fire tore through Grenfell Tower due to unsafe flammable cladding and claimed at least 72 lives. It seems scarcely believable that after all this time so much vital safety work has not even begun. How can it be that thousands still live in fear of another cladding fire?

This is a problem that I know only too well. My constituency of Southampton Itchen has one of the highest number of high-rise buildings with unsafe cladding in Hampshire. Shockingly, remediation work has started at barely a third of these properties. My casework inbox and surgeries are full of heartbreaking stories from residents, including from leaseholders who cannot sell because banks will not offer mortgages on their properties. Those in this unenviable position tell me they feel like prisoners, trapped in homes where they do not feel safe. Others are finding themselves suddenly evacuated from their homes when their buildings fail long-delayed safety assessments. When, shortly after the election, I organised a meeting for constituents who had been affected by cladding, our large meeting room was filled by more than 60 constituents, each with their own story of stress and uncertainty stretching back months and years. Enough is enough. My constituents – and others across the country – have lived with this nightmare for too long.

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I am pleased that after years of dither and delay, we are finally seeing some meaningful action in this area. The government’s strengthened Remediation Acceleration Plan should help to overcome the most serious barriers that have slowed down the process to a snail’s pace. More stringent target dates for making buildings safe and tougher penalties for developers and landlords who do not meet their obligations are long overdue.

It is a fundamental principle of fairness that homeowners and tenants should not have to carry to cost of fixing building safety issues. Why should my constituents who bought or rent their homes in good faith be penalised for something that is not their fault? They should not – and I am pleased that this government agrees, as shown by its determination to bring forward the introduction of the new Building Safety Levy to Autumn 2026. This is a levy on new residential buildings that meet certain criteria, and it will raise revenue to be spent on building safety. It is a vital measure to ensure that the industry that holds collective responsibility for long-standing building safety issues make a fair contribution, and that ordinary hardworking people aren’t left out of pocket.

It is right and fair that we extract a fair contribution from the housing industry, and by bringing the levy into effect in Autumn 2026, the government is giving registered Building Control approvers time to prepare for the levy; and housing developers who will pay the levy will have reasonable time to factor levy cost into their financial planning. It may be that we need to go further in ensuring that housing providers are not rewarded for failure, and as we look forward to an uptick in construction activity, I think that many of my constituents would agree that any housing providers that do not comply with their obligations to homeowners and tenants should be firmly out of the running for any new contracts or funding.

These are all steps in the right direction that will be welcomed by constituents. But we need to do more. When I met with the Building Safety Minister Alex Norris recently, I suggested several policy priorities that have emerged from and been shaped by the many conversations which I have had with those affected. Some of these focused specifically on cladding and fire safety – for example, further work to support leaseholders living in developments below the 11-metre threshold. But others spoke to the increasingly common opinion among my constituents that our archaic and centuries-old leasehold system is no longer fit for purpose. With so many leaseholders suffering delays to remediation and other fire safety works due to unfair and unreasonable practices from managing agents and landlords, it is little wonder that so many of my constituents feel that it’s high time for more radical change.

The Labour Government has rightly pledged to get Britain building again and finally deliver the new homes that are so desperately needed. But surely one of the lessons from this long-running crisis is that speed and cost-cutting cannot be at the expense of safety. That is why my constituents have supported my call for measures to ensure the long-term quality and standards of future housing developments.             

Many long-suffering constituents – especially leaseholders, who bought their homes in good faith – tell me that they have heard too many promises before. While this scepticism is understandable, the onus is now on all of us across Westminster and beyond to show that actions speak louder than words. While there is still much to do, our first year in power has seen this government clearly signal its intention to get to grips with building safety, and I hope this gives my constituents the confidence that the action they have waited so long for is finally on its way.

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Can building homes help Labour beat populism? 

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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.

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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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New Towns are a Labour success story – now these young towns need Labour again

I owe a big part of my identity to the New Towns Act 1946. I was born and raised in Telford; it’s integral to who I am, and being a New Town is integral to what Telford is.

Towns like Telford, Milton Keynes, Northampton and Washington have a unique story to tell, and it’s a story not enough people know. We’re living, breathing embodiments of the aspiration and social mobility that characterised Attlee’s and Wilson’s Britain. New Towns made a new life possible for families like mine: it wasn’t just a massive increase in the housing supply – though that was significant – it was access to jobs, education and training, high-quality green space and nature, new communities. New Towns were a new vision for a new Britain.

To this day, if you take a visit to Telford you can see that vision. Telford & Wrekin Council builds homes at a faster rate than almost any other local authority in the country – with more than 1,200 new homes built last year alone – and the design of our town means there’s no conflict between housebuilding and protecting green spaces. Quite the opposite: access to green space is one of the most important assets a new home can have, and Telford was designed with that in mind. The work of the Labour-run council, including during my time as Leader, has given our town 20 designated nature reserves (with three more proposed) covering over 600 hectares, and more than 300 protected green spaces – comfortably above the national average. The great strength of New Towns is that they’re built to facilitate community, giving residents access to schools, education, retail and other key infrastructure on their doorstep.

Existing towns, cities and villages have a tendency to entrench inequality and deprivation. Living in a poorer area – an area with higher crime rates, worse transport connectivity, fewer schools, fewer jobs – can deny you opportunities, and without those opportunities it can be hard to escape the area that’s holding you back. New Towns – or, as we call ourselves now, young towns – like Telford offered a fresh start, and in a time when living standards were rising and families could dream of a better future for their children, that new start was an opportunity to forge a better life.

There’s an all-too-familiar twist in the New Towns fairytale, though: like with most of what’s great about this country, it all changed when the Tories got their hands on it. New Towns aren’t a fait accomplit; you’re trying to recreate the centuries of development that most towns have under their belts in just a few decades, so you need continued investment and attention to sustain the rapid growth.

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Instead, the Conservative Governments of the 1980s and 1990s did what Conservatives do best: wash their hands of all responsibility, and turn growth into decline. New Town Development Corporations – key to successful building, planning and growth – gave way to inert quangos and private corporations, which served to block growth rather than facilitate it.

Every New Town MP and council leader will tell you the same thing: all our housing and infrastructure was built at the same time, and a lack of regeneration means it’s all crumbling at the same time. Population growth, job creation and urban development have all stagnated because there hasn’t been the drive from central government to grow them, despite the obvious opportunities to do so. Starting with Thatcher, successive governments grew complacent; they saw the rapid growth of New Towns, and concluded that they were a complete project which would take care of themselves. They should have inferred that even more growth was possible if the effort was sustained.

Thanks to the new Labour Government, we’re seeing renewed focus on New Towns. The Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister both appreciate the massive role New Towns can play in fixing the housing crisis, and in kickstarting the growth and social mobility that we haven’t seen for far too long. Britain today isn’t the aspirational nation it once was, thanks to the Tories’ age-old approach of managed decline. Inequality has widened and solidified, and it’s grown much harder for parents like me to imagine greater prosperity and security for our children. New Towns can help fix that, offering parents stuck in deprived areas the chance of a safer, friendlier community, with better access to jobs, schools and more.

Given the scale of the housing crisis – and the nature of the solutions – we need to get to work quickly, and the Government has done that. The New Towns Taskforce has been fully established and begun its work, and the first step of the process – identifying potential sites – is well underway. Building New Towns is far from a quick fix, but ambition and urgency will make a major difference to the timescales we’re looking at. The Prime Minister has pledged that construction will start before the end of this Parliament – that’s exactly the kind of ambition we need.

What’s even more encouraging – but not appreciated enough – is that the Government understands the roles young towns can play in delivering new ones. New Towns have never been built from scratch; they’ve always been expansions of existing villages. When looking for sites, it would be foolish to overlook the towns with the highest rates of housebuilding and growth, and the greatest potential for more building – that’s New Towns, many of which are awash with space and boast strong track records of delivering high-quality homes at speed and scale. To that end, the reports that the 12 sites selected will include some young towns are very welcome.

What I and other champions of New Towns are at pains to stress, though, is that this isn’t all young towns have to offer when planning for new ones. The questions of how to resume growth of existing New Towns and how to successfully deliver the next generation of New Towns are one and the same. As I said earlier, the current generation of New Towns remain a work in progress; similarly, the success of the next generation won’t just be measured 20 years from now, it’ll be measured 60 years from now, when we’ll see whether these New Towns unlocked their full potential, or just became like any other towns.

In Telford, Stevenage, Basildon and other young towns, we have a blueprint for the next generation – and in some cases, we have the structure around which the next generation will be built. Now is the perfect opportunity to revive the political will of our Labour forebears and make our New Towns the major urban centres they can be, so that when the next generation of New Towns have been set up, they’ll know where to go – and they’ll know that the sky’s the limit.

And in more practical terms, if we want to deliver exponential regional growth – which is an imperative given the anaemic growth outside the South-East we’ve seen over the last few decades – we need to create new hubs around which to build future settlements. One of the most important variables in the trajectories of existing New Towns has been their proximity to a town or city that itself has been growing. Milton Keynes, for example, has benefitted from having London on its doorstep; Telford is likewise better off for having Birmingham as a neighbour. It’s much easier to entice people to a New Town if you can offer the jobs and opportunities of a thriving population centre a short drive or train journey away. Now, what London was (and is) to Milton Keynes, Milton Keynes can be to the rest of Bedfordshire; what Birmingham is to Telford, Telford can be to Shropshire and Mid-Wales. If we create jobs, wealth and vibrant communities in our young towns, it’ll become much easier to create new settlements in areas around them with the potential to build.

2024 wasn’t quite 1945 – there’s been no world war, no destruction, no big reset – but we can see that same need for optimism and aspiration today that drove Attlee’s governments back then. Building a New Jerusalem meant making what had previously been pipe dreams possible for people who had previously been trapped in poverty or insecurity, and while the scale might be smaller today, New Towns are part of the New Jerusalem that’s needed. New Towns symbolise that aspiration and the chance of social mobility, and they symbolise turning decline and inequality into growth and opportunity. This Government must be a successor to Attlee, not to Thatcher, and deliver that New Jerusalem.

These clusters of housing and economic growth, created by Labour and protected by Labour, now stand ready as confident young towns – with the ability, the aspiration, the hunger to once more contribute to the re-building of Britain.

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