Key takeaways on housing from the BBC’s last Prime Ministerial Debate
In their last face-off before the election on Thursday, Starmer and Sunak discussed their ambitions for housing at the last BBC Prime Ministerial ‘head to head’ on 26th June.
In a lively exchange, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer hammered home the urgent need for action on housebuilding if young people were to ever live the dream of home ownership.
Sir Keir said he wanted to bring back “the dream of home ownership” which had been “killed under this government”.
He continued, “we need to build the homes necessary to ensure the dream of home ownership lives again”, promising to build 1.5 million homes if elected.
Starmer didn’t mince words on the challenges ahead, calling for “tough decisions on planning”, and attacked Sunak’s abolishing of mandatory housing targets which he described as “going off a cliff” and “taken down with it the dreams of young people across the country.”
Interestingly, Sunak took a different tack during the debate, talking less about building new homes (which has proven very unpopular to Conservative MPs) and more on the financial incentives for aspiring homeowners. Sunak sidestepped discussions about the government’s failure to meet housing demand, and instead said he would “reintroduce a new form of Help to Buy and effectively abolish stamp duty for first time buyers”.
Rishi added, “By doing help to buy and abolishing stamp duty, we will massively speed up helping people get on to the housing ladder”.
Sunak is clearly cautious about making promises about delivering new homes due to scepticism from the public about the Tories’ ability to deliver on their previous housing pledges.
After what seems like a marathon General Election campaign, it’s now your turn to decide. Don’t lose the opportunity on Thursday. Carpe Diem.
