Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced sweeping measures to boost economic growth including bringing back housebuilding targets in her first speech since assuming office in the Treasury.
Reeves said there is “no time to waste” in Labour’s mission to boost economic growth – one of the cornerstones of the party’s general election platform.
The Chancellor announced that mandatory housing targets would be brought back in a bid to meet a manifesto pledge to build 1.5 million homes over the next parliament.
She said: “Growth requires hard choices, choices that previous governments have shied away from, and it now falls to this new Labour government to fix the foundations.”
The 2024 manifesto said that housebuilding would prioritise brownfield sites and low quality ‘grey belt’ land in the green belt.
Reeves said that the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), which sets out national planning priorities, would be reformed.
An “absurd” ban on new onshore wind will also be lifted, the Chancellor announced in her speech.
This government was elected with a mandate to take immediate action to boost Britain's energy independence.
The onshore wind ban is a symbol of how bad decisions in the last fourteen years have put up energy bills for families.
Today, it ends.
https://t.co/3fYOoQzaur— Ed Miliband (@Ed_Miliband) July 8, 2024
She also confirmed plans to help local authorities across the country hire hundreds more planning officers.
Reeves said: “There is much more to do, more tough decisions to be taken. You have put your trust in us, and we will repay the work towards a decade of national renewal has begun. There is no time to waste, and we are just getting started.”
She added that new Treasury analysis shows that the UK economy would have been £140 billion larger had it grown at the average rate of OECD economies since 2010.
The Chancellor also blasted the record of the Conservatives in government. When asked by the Guardian‘s Larry Elliott if she agrees with Liz Truss about the existence of an “anti-growth coalition” in Britain, Reeves said the “anti-growth coalition are the Conservative Party.”
She said she would soon present details to Parliament on how difficult the government’s public finances inheritance from the Conservatives is too.
Firms welcome plans but think tank urges investment and greenbelt battles loom
The CEOs of housebuilders Barratt Developments and Berkeley Group, energy firm Scottish Power and the Investment Association were among those welcoming Labour’s plans.
Keith Anderson, CEO of Scottish Power, said: “I welcome the clear sense of urgency and direction set out by the Chancellor today.
“Prioritising clean energy infrastructure and building at speed and at scale will unleash strong economic growth across the country. If the UK can halve the time it takes to get renewables, electricity grid and storage projects through the planning system, we’ll look to double our investment over the coming years.”
But Hannah Peaker, director of policy at the New Economics Foundation, said: “Our new chancellor’s ambition to get the UK out of its economic rut is promising, but will be scuppered by her reluctance to talk about public investment.
A new government has plenty of ways to raise money, from borrowing responsibly to taxing the wealthiest to scrapping stealth subsidies to banks.
“Remaining wedded to outdated and arbitrary fiscal rules will hold our economy back.
Labour’s big housebuilding drive could also prove popular nationally but controversial locally.
The Telegraph had earlier reported that the reintroduction of mandatory housing targets will be announced in her speech, with a vow to take “difficult decisions” in Labour’s growth drive.
But political editor of the FT George Parker told the BBC: “Planning is one of the big levers you can pull early on to try to free things up, and get Britain building again, according to the slogan.
“The interesting thing though, is you’re running into a load of MPs who’ve just been elected, often representing seats that used to be represented by Conservative MPs, which might suddenly be being built on.
“And that is where the rubber hits the road, and that’s why you’ve got to move quickly, why you’ve still got that good will and why you still got that political mandate.”
Read more on how the night unfolded:
Liz Truss loses South West Norfolk: Beaten by a lettuce, beaten by Labour
Scotland results: Labour makes big gains as SNP obliterated
Wales results: Labour bags 27 of 32 seats as Tories wiped off the map
Jacob Rees-Mogg: Senior Tory loses seat as Labour mayor Dan Norris wins
Gaza: Jon Ashworth loses in Leicester as independents win Blackburn and Batley
Islington North: Jeremy Corbyn holds on in strong result over Labour
Nuneaton, Stevenage, Swindon, Worcester: Labour wins in key bellwether marginals
Read more on what could come next for Labour in power:
100 days: What happens during the first 100 days of a Labour government?
Delivering pledges: ‘Change is hard – how can Labour achieve it?’
Manifesto: ‘12 great policies you may never have heard of’
Foreign affairs: ‘Whatever happens to Biden, Starmer faces a US challenge’
Trilemma: IFS warns Starmer will likely have to pick cuts, debt or tax hikes
Read more on how Labour fought this campaign in key battlegrounds:
Aldershot: Can Labour win the ‘Home of the Army’ for the first time in a century?
Bolsover: Labour’s Natalie Fleet on death threats, Dennis Skinner and class today
Brighton Pavilion: Can Labour win the Greens’ one seat?
Bristol Central: Inside Labour’s battle to counter the insurgent Green Party
East Thanet: Inside the battle for coastal ex-UKIP stronghold not won since 2005
Edinburgh endgame: The seat where SNP defeat would signal Labour majority
Dover and Deal: Small boats and Tory mutineers: Can veteran Mike Tapp win?
Finchley and Golders Green: Can Labour win back Britain’s most Jewish seat?
Glasgow South West: Meet the NHS doctor fighting one of Scotland’s tightest marginals
Monmouthshire: ‘Why this CLP is setting the standard in this campaign’
Sheffield Hallam: ‘Can Labour’s Olivia Blake hold on in Nick Clegg’s old seat?’
South West: Could Labour take ‘non-battleground’ Tory seats?
Wimbledon‘s battle of the bar charts: Inside a rare election three-horse race
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