Morning Briefing: Hammond speaks on Budget

In the news

The Sunday papers were awash with budget speculation, none more so than The Sunday Times, to whom Philip Hammond gave an interview.

The chancellor said he will launch in inquiry into “house builders landbanking, speculators hoarding land and local authorities blocking development”, pay to clean up polluted industrial sites for housebuilding, get local authorities to allocate land for small builders, and guarantee bank loans to those small builders.

The proposals caused quite a stir, and Mr Hammond brought the housing question further towards the front on Sunday morning, telling Andrew Marr that the government would protect the green belt.

Writing in The Telegraph, Charles Moore, the paper’s former editor, said the chancellor should stop blaming other people – like builders and councils – and look to the government’s own record.

Though Mr Hammond didn’t mention council borrowing to The Sunday Times, The Guardian’s Budget preview seems convinced that lifting the cap on Housing Revenue Account borrowing is being considered. Writing in that same paper this morning, Darren Baxter insists on the importance of this measure.

In The Times, Mark Littlewood, director general of Thatcherite thinktank the Institute of Economic Affairs, is sticking with one solution: build on the green belt.

A powerful long read in the Financial Times, however, challenges that orthodox view that the housing crisis is a question of demand and supply.

In the same paper, Barry White (not that one) argues that supporting more rental housing – by, for example, guaranteeing rental income on build-to-rent properties – would help grow the economy.

On social media

Alongside Budget speculation, pressure grows on the government to act on Universal Credit.

All new MPs can (if they choose to do so) receive their first pay cheque within one week, plus an immediate loan of £4k to cover expenses/housing costs. Those claiming Universal Credit, many of whom are living with disabilities, must wait for six weeks to "prepare them for work".

— Dr J Wallis Martin (@J_Wallis_Martin)

All new MPs can (if they choose to do so) receive their first pay cheque within one week, plus an immediate loan of £4k to cover expenses/housing costs. Those claiming Universal Credit, many of whom are living with disabilities, must wait for six weeks to "prepare them for work".

— Dr J Wallis Martin (@J_Wallis_Martin) November 20, 2017

What’s on

The Communities and Local Government Select Committee will today hear evidence from experts on housing for older people.