Bricks and mortar

The fact that young, middle-class professionals are half as likely to get on the housing ladder than 20 years ago should panic the Tories. Labour comfortably won the votes of people under 40 in last year’s election, and it wasn’t just a backlash against Brexit. One serious area of discontent is the Conservative record on home ownership. Once upon a time, it was probably their most popular issue. But as the middle classes have found it harder to buy property, so precious territory has been surrendered to Labour.

Not that Labour is to be trusted with housing: giving tenants the default right to own a pet or distributing 8,000 homes to rough-sleepers are gimmicks joined by spending plans that don’t add up. The tax regime it wants to operate would add to the burden of Stamp Duty, which has been increased punitively under the Tories – crippling investment in buy-to-let, making it too expensive for many to move and distorting the entire market. The total raised by Stamp Duty has doubled in five years. Meanwhile, house building has been slow and energy focused too much on policies that increase demand, such as help towards raising a deposit. With interest rates so low, why haven’t more innovative lending schemes been launched?

It is another example of the Tories moving away from being a party of aspiration, which is a mistake not only from an electoral point of view but for its impact upon British society. This has long been – or aspired to be – a property-owning democracy, and bricks and mortar give voters a stake in the system. Lacking that, they are more likely to regard themselves as economically vulnerable and prey to radical politics. The Tories, by failing to act, are playing in to Jeremy Corbyn’s hands.