‘Protest politics is failing London – Labour is not’

Somewhere in Lewisham this morning, a child woke up in temporary accommodation. They got ready for school in a space never meant for a family. Their books are stacked on a bed because there is no desk. Their belongings stay partly packed because nothing feels permanent.

Hostels are not homes.

In Lewisham, 2,495 households are in temporary accommodation, including nearly 4,000 children. Across the capital thousands more face the same struggle. These are not numbers on a page. They are families doing their best in circumstances no family would ever choose. This is the frontline of London’s housing crisis in one of the richest cities in the world.

London’s shortage of secure homes shapes everything. It affects where children learn, how long workers commute, whether older residents can remain near loved ones and whether young people feel they can build a life here. It affects mental health, safety, education and a sense of community. It decides who stays rooted in their neighbourhood and who is forced out.

READ MORE: Renters’ rights reforms to come into force from May 2026

Which is why it matters who steps up and who stands in the way.

Too often, the Green Party and those affiliated with what is currently known as ‘Your Party’ act as a coordinated force of obstruction. They arrive at the end of long consultations, disrupt community engagement, amplify anxiety and then vanish before responsibility lands. They claim to speak for neighbourhoods they barely know. Their tactics, messages and outcomes are identical. Lewisham is simply their latest stop.

Their answer to the housing crisis is always the same – stop building and hope no one notices the consequences.

After years of engagement with residents about replacing a car park with social and affordable homes, Jeremy Corbyn arrived at the eleventh hour to oppose the Lewisham Shopping Centre redevelopment. And this week Zara Sultana fronts Your Party’s Question Time debut, talking about poverty while her party campaigns against the homes that lift families out of it. You cannot defend an empty car park and call it social justice.

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Labour is choosing a different path. The Labour government has made housing a national mission. Steve Reed has been clear that Britain cannot prosper or become fairer without rebuilding its housing system. The government is unblocking stalled sites, reforming planning and putting social housing back where it belongs at the centre of national policy.

This sense of purpose has deep roots in our movement. After the war, it was Labour that built the homes, the new towns and the infrastructure that reshaped Britain for a generation. The scale of the challenge was huge, but Labour did not shrink from it. It met it. Housing was central to that transformation because secure homes are the foundation of a fair society. 

London needs that same determination now.

At City Hall, Sadiq Khan has delivered more genuinely affordable homes than any Mayor since devolution began. He has raised affordable housing requirements, expanded council housebuilding, secured record investment for social rent and grown London Living Rent. These are not slogans. They are homes that families live in today.

Lewisham is part of this citywide mission. Our Building for Lewisham programme is transforming unused land into new homes. Hundreds of council homes have been completed. Thousands more are underway. We are on track to deliver 2,000 new homes by 2026. For every family who moves into a secure home, life begins to stabilise. Children can stay in the same school. Parents can plan ahead. Neighbours can finally put down roots.

A secure home does more than shelter- it gives families the chance to breathe.

The Lewisham Shopping Centre redevelopment reflects this approach. A new park; a youth club; a music venue; a new shopping centre; thousands of jobs and training opportunities;  And 344 new social and affordable homes. 

No existing residents have been forced out; No loss of community space. Just a car park replaced with homes and opportunity.

Next year’s local elections matter. They will shape the future of this city. London can allow protest politics to block every meaningful solution or it can choose progress through the hard work of building the homes that Londoners need and deserve. It is a choice between those who appear for rallies and those who appear to deliver.

London has rebuilt itself before. With Labour it will do it again.

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If London is to remain a city where people can build their lives, it needs councillors prepared to act, prepared to build and prepared to work with Sadiq Khan and a Labour government that is serious about solving the crisis.

This is London’s moment to choose. A city that says no or a city that moves forward. A city shaped by delay or a city built on action. A city that turns its back on the next generation or a city that builds for them.

London deserves the future Labour is ready to deliver.

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