Keir Starmer is a man in a hurry.Keir Starmer has vowed to “take the brakes off Britain” by unleashing a housebuilding boom across the country as he prepares to unveil the government’s plans for the year ahead.
Objections to housing developments from local people will be over-ruled in the drive to build 1.5 million new homes and boost economic growth over the next five years.
The measures will be among more than 35 bills being announced in the King’s Speech later today.
Starmer said: “Now is the time to take the brakes off Britain. For too long people have been held back, their paths determined by where they came from - not their talents and hard work.
“I am determined to create wealth for people up and down the country. It is the only way our country can progress, and my government is focussed on supporting that aspiration.
“Today’s new laws will take back control and lay the foundations of real change that this country is crying out for, creating wealth in every community and making people better off - supporting their ambitions, hopes and dreams.”
Chancellor Rachel Reeves last week said that getting Britain building again was key to the government’s ambition to massively increase economic growth - even if that meant over-ruling local objections.
She said: “It will still be, in the first instance, up to local authorities and local communities to decide where housing is built.
“But we will bring back those mandatory housing targets so the answer cannot always be no. So it will be up to local communities to decide where the housing is to be built, but it has to be built.
If the answer is always no, we’ll continue as we are. And continuing as we are means living standards continuing to decline and it means public services continuing to deteriorate.”
Other measures set to be unveiled in the King’s Speech include legislation to strengthen workers’ rights, increase border security, crack down on anti-social behaviour, ban smoking, re-nationalise the railways, reform the House of Lords and impose VAT on private school fees.
But the PM is also facing a Labour backbench rebellion over his refusal to scrap the two-child benefit cap.
