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Starmer pledges huge boost in homeownership across Britain if elected
Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to drive homeownership up to 70 per cent in the first five years of a Labour government as he outlined his party’s vision in Liverpool.
In his keynote address to the annual conference this afternoon, the Labour leader described how the dream of homeownership – traditionally one of the Conservative Party’s key values – was “slipping away” under the current government.
Sir Keir told delegates how he himself had seen the “bedrock of security” that comes from owning a home like his family’s “pebble-dashed semi” and declared that Labour is the “party of homeownership in Britain today”.
He added that he would bring homeownership up from current levels of 65 per cent and help millions on to the housing ladder.
According to the English Housing Survey covering 2020-21, around 15.5 million households are owner-occupied. This would mean hundreds of thousands of new homeowners in the first five years of a new Labour government.
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This would be achieved through new “political choices”, Sir Keir said, including a government mortgage guarantee scheme meaning people would not have to save up for large deposits. This would be aimed at real first-time buyers rather than buy-to-let landlords.
He said: “No more buy-to-let landlords or second homeowners getting in first. We will back working people’s aspiration.
“Help real first-time buyers onto the ladder with a new mortgage guarantee scheme.
“Reform planning so speculators can’t stop communities getting shovels in the ground.”
According to a report in The Mirror, other ways that Labour will increase ownership levels is by making sure local people get first dibs on new homes, and raising stamp duty on foreign buyers to prevent them snapping up blocks of flats before they hit the market.
Sir Keir also said he would tackle the lack of supply by building more homes and reform the planning system to get more “shovels in the ground”.
He said: “If you keep on inflating demand without increasing supply, house prices will only rise. And homes become less affordable for working people.”
Sir Keir added: “If you’re grafting every hour to buy your own home, Labour is on your side. Labour is the party of homeownership in Britain today.”
While Sir Keir focused on boosting homeownership, Lisa Nandy, shadow minister for levelling up, housing and communities, told the party conference yesterday that Labour would build a “new generation of council housing”.
Ms Nandy said that tackling the housing crisis is central to growth, and set out plans to “rebuild our council housing stock and bring homes back into the ownership of local councils and communities”, and to “tilt the balance of power” back to those who rent their homes.
In his speech, Sir Keir also pledged to build a publicly owned renewable energy company within the first year of a Labour government. He vowed to defeat the cost of living crisis and restore public service levels including in the NHS.
He added: “The next Labour government must restore our sense of collective hope. It’s time for Britain to stand tall again, to believe in ourselves again, to chart a new course and to get our future back.”
