The government looks set to ditch an ambitious target for housebuilding
It wants more home ownership, but is less keen on building more homes
IN 1975, IN her first conference speech as Conservative leader, Margaret Thatcher pledged to build “a property-owning democracy”. More than 45 years later homeowners are still more likely to back the Tories than their rivals, and so the government would like there to be more of them. In 2017 it set an ambitious target of increasing the housing stock by 300,000 units a year in England. To help hit that target, in 2020 Boris Johnson, the prime minister, promised to simplify planning and weaken locals’ rights to object to development.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Change of plan”
Britain October 2nd 2021
- Boris Johnson dodges the blame for Britain’s petrol-pump nightmare
- The government looks set to ditch an ambitious target for housebuilding
- England’s pioneering mental-health programme hits a ceiling
- Professors and students seek to widen the appeal of classics
- In Britain, young women got more work during the pandemic
- Andy Burnham wants to help rescue the Tories’ signature policy
- Sir Keir Starmer is sailing the Labour Party in the right direction
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