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Starmer promises to house all veterans, young care leavers and victims of domestic abuse
Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has promised to house all veterans, young care leavers and victims of domestic abuse, and introduce a duty of candour law to parliament before April next year.
In his keynote address to the Labour Party Conference on Tuesday, the prime minister vowed that his party will house all young care leavers, victims of domestic abuse and veterans in housing need.
“Homes will be there for heroes,” he added. “They will have the security they deserve. They will have a roof over their head because Britain belongs to them.”
Sir Keir also pledged to introduce a legal duty of candour on public bodies.
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The Hillsborough Law will be introduced in parliament before the next anniversary of the 1989 football stadium tragedy. This is a commitment Sir Keir originally made during a speech in Liverpool two years ago.
He said: “That was when I promised, on this stage, that if I ever had the privilege to serve our country as prime minister, one of my first acts would be to bring in a Hillsborough Law – a duty of candour.
“A law for Liverpool. A law for the 97. A law that people should never have needed to fight so hard to get. But that will be delivered by this Labour government.”
The prime minister said that the legislation, details of which were set out in the King’s Speech, will force public bodies to co-operate with investigations into major disasters, and will be in progress before April 2025.
Officials or organisations that mislead or obstruct investigations could potentially face criminal sanctions.
Sir Keir also referenced other major public inquiries such as the Post Office scandal, the infected blood scandal and the Grenfell Tower fire.
He said: “The families and survivors of the Grenfell Tower, whose dignity has held up over the last seven years, has held up a mirror to Britain.”
In a speech that reiterated his commitment to public service in office, the prime minister said the duty of candour law is needed to ensure that the state listens and builds a Britain that belongs to its citizens.
“We can’t afford any more Grenfell Towers, we have to be mission-led,” Sir Keir stated.
In her opening speech to the conference, deputy prime minister and housing secretary Angela Rayner told delegates: “Working with the prime minister on the Grenfell Inquiry was the most sobering moment of my career: 72 lives lost, 18 children, all avoidable. A fatal failure of market and state. A tragedy that must never happen again.
“It is completely unacceptable that we have thousands of buildings still wrapped in unsafe cladding seven years after Grenfell.
“And that’s why we will bring forward a new remediation action plan this autumn to speed up the process and we’ll pursue those responsible – without fear or favour. This must lead to new, safer social housing for the future.”
Elsewhere during the conference over the past few days, the deputy London mayor for housing and residential development said the City Hall developer will initially focus on joint ventures and land assembly.
The former chair of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee said grant could be diverted from shared ownership to social rent and that he is “sceptical” about the future of the product as a part of the government’s affordable housing plans.
At the same time, a new Labour MP told campaigners and sector professionals to “keep pushing” the government on the 90,000-home annual social rent target.
