Labour Party Conference 2023

Housing and planning policy was front and centre at Labour Party Conference this week in Liverpool, featuring in all three of the major speeches given by Keir Starmer MP (Leader of the Opposition), Angela Rayner MP (Shadow Deputy Prime Minister, and Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) and Rachel Reeves MP (Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer).

Here are our top takeaways from conference:

• Labour pledged to build 1.5 million homes over the course of the next Parliament, with ‘new social and affordable housing’ forming a core part.
• Labour will review and release low-quality Green Belt for development, targeting ‘disused car parks’ and ‘dreary wasteland’ which Starmer described as ‘the grey belt’.
• Labour would develop ‘new towns’ on land along railways and other infrastructure to create ‘vibrant communities’ and ‘bustling high streets.’
• Labour would put a stop to councils refusing to develop a local plan because ‘they prefer the back-door deals,’. Councils would face penalties should they not reach their housing targets.
• Labour pledged to hire 300 more planning officers across the country to strengthen ‘public sector capacity to expedite planning decisions’, as announced by Rachel Reeves on Monday.
• Labour would tackle Nimbyism and ‘get tough with’ local opponents to new developments. A member of Labour’s National Executive stated the party would want to make Nimbyism a ‘source of shame’.

Keir Starmer anticipates their policy announcements would ‘Get Britain Building’ and would make Labour ‘the party of home ownership’ – a title which the Conservatives have always coveted. Many of the proposals above will be welcome news if they speed up the process.

While both Michael Gove’s and Rishi Sunak’s speeches at Conservative Conference stayed away from housing almost entirely, knowing the fault lines that exist throughout the party should they choose either side, it is clear Labour intend to tackle the housing issue head on. Sir Keir and his Secretary of State will need a tough ‘no nonsense’ policy if elected to face down new town opponents and ensure they can deliver these housing commitments, where Conservatives have now been blown off course by their own backbenchers, vested interests, and by-election defeats by the Liberal Democrats.