Labour challenges Chancellor to use Budget to reverse Conservatives’ abysmal house-building record

Ahead of
the Budget tomorrow, Labour has revealed that no new ‘starter homes’ have been
built in three years, despite the Conservatives’ promise to build 200,000 of
them.

‘Starter
homes’ are a flagship Conservative commitment to first-time buyers, first
announced in December 2014. In the Conservatives’ 2015 manifesto, they promised
to build 200,000 starter homes but none have so far been built.

In
addition to the lack of progress on building starter homes, analysis from
Labour shows that the number of new low-cost homes to buy has halved since
2010. There are now 58,000 fewer affordable homes for first-time buyers than if
building levels had continued at the level left by Labour.

Labour is
challenging the Chancellor to use tomorrow’s Budget to reverse this abysmal
record on house-building and to ensure that promised homes are actually built.

John
Healey MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, said:

“If hot
air built homes, Conservative Ministers would have fixed our housing crisis.
Three years after they pledged a big new programme of ‘starter homes’ for
first-time buyers, not a single one has been built.

“Meanwhile,
the number of home-owners under 45 has fallen by 904,000 since 2010 and the
number of low-cost homes to buy has halved.

“The
Chancellor must use the Budget to reverse this abysmal record and ensure that
the homes they pledge are actually built. No more broken promises.

“The next
Labour government will build 100,000 genuinely affordable homes to rent and buy
a year, and help first-time buyers with first-dibs on new homes for local
people, a new generation of discounted FirstBuy Homes, and a cut in stamp duty
on their first home.”