Although his resounding win has been overshadowed by the continued Coronavirus crisis, in Keir Starmer the Labour Party finally have a credible Leader of the Opposition.
He has now named his Shadow Cabinet where, in Housing, the long-time Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, John Healey, was moved to Defence Secretary with Bristol MP Thangam Debbonaire becoming the new Shadow Housing Secretary.
TFA takes a look at what a Starmer government could look like for house building and planning.
Councils building again at scale –legislation to make it easier and cheaper for councils and development corporations to buy land for development.
Register of landlords and controls on rents – building 100,000 homes a year for social rent.
Estate regeneration schemes – new rules so that there would be no net reduction in the supply of social rented homes, and that estate residents should be balloted when their homes face demolition.
Ending of Right to Buy.
Affordable Housing – Starmer believes “a good rule of thumb” is that affordable should be based on households not spending more than 30% of net income on housing costs.
Green Belt – priority would be for new development on brownfield sites, but communities would have flexibility on the Green Belt “where there’s a clear need and local support for adjusting current Green Belt boundaries.”
Permitted development rights – would reverse these ending “a free-for-all which lets unscrupulous property developers to profit and deprives areas of employment spaces.”
Affordable Housing Contributions – removal of “loopholes” like the extension of permitted development rights and a more transparent process where councils “drive a hard bargain for their communities.”
Devolution – would like greater devolution and believes there’s is a strong case for devolution on housing given housing markets differ so much across the country.
Shadow Cabinet in full:
Keir Starmer, Leader of the Opposition
Angela Rayner, Deputy Leader and Chair of the Labour Party
Anneliese Dodds, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
Lisa Nandy, Shadow Foreign Secretary
Nick Thomas-Symonds, Shadow Home Secretary
Rachel Reeves, Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
David Lammy, Shadow Justice Secretary
John Healey, Shadow Defence Secretary
Ed Miliband, Shadow Business, Energy and Industrial Secretary
Emily Thornberry, Shadow International Trade Secretary
Jonathan Reynolds, Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary
Jonathan Ashworth, Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Rebecca Long-Bailey, Shadow Education Secretary
Jo Stevens, Shadow Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
Bridget Philipson, Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Luke Pollard, Shadow Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary
Steve Reed, Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary
Thangam Debbonaire, Shadow Housing Secretary
Jim McMahon, Shadow Transport Secretary
Preet Kaur Gill, Shadow International Development Secretary
Louise Haigh, Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary (interim)
Ian Murray, Shadow Scotland Secretary
Nia Griffith, Shadow Wales Secretary
Marsha de Cordova, Shadow Women and Equalities Secretary
Andy McDonald, Shadow Employment Rights and Protections Secretary
Rosena Allin-Khan, Shadow Minister for Mental Health
Cat Smith, Shadow Minister for Young People and Voter Engagement
Charles Falconer, Shadow Attorney General
Valerie Vaz, Shadow Leader of the House
Nick Brown, Opposition Chief Whip
Angela Smith, Shadow Leader of the Lords
Tommy McAvoy, Lords’ Opposition Chief Whip
