Housing is the Tories’ biggest challenge
The chronic shortage and unaffordability of homes will decide the electoral future of the Conservatives
It is not surprising that in recent months both the Government and Parliament, as well as the country at large, have been focused almost exclusively on Britain leaving the European Union.
Despite the urgency of this topic however, it is vital to both the Conservative Party and the country as a whole, that we do not look solely at Brexit policy to the exclusion of all else. One major concern for a postbrexit United Kingdom is the continuing shortcomings of our housing market.
Despite reviews, commissions and, as of now, eight ministers of state since the 2010 General Election, little has been done to revitalise British house building and make more homes available for people at different stages of life.
The results of this failing are seen across Britain. In my own constituency, of North East Somerset, average house prices have surged to almost triple the price they would be if they had just increased by inflation, in less than 20 years. In England as a whole, an average house bought in 1995 for £55,000 (with the buyer on an average salary of £17,500) has quadrupled in value to £234,000, while the average wage has only increased to £27,000.
These price rises are having a disproportionate effect on the young, who should be the property owners of tomorrow but now find this an elusive ambition. Across the United Kingdom, we see young people unable to buy their first house and often finding it difficult to afford the rent in large cities such as London, without needing to squeeze flatmates in like sardines. Property ownership among those in the younger age brackets has sagged dramatically, with the percentage of 16 to 34 year olds owning their own home falling from 54 per cent in 1996 to only 34 per cent 20 years later.
Much of the blame for this must be laid at the door of successive governments of all political stripes, which have allowed our sclerotic planning laws to remain unreformed, steadfastly refusing to implement policies that would create a fillip to housebuilding. While the wheels of our housebuilding sector have been gummed up by regulation, in France they have built almost 8 million homes more than the UK since 1970 – equivalent to the French building every existing home in Greater London, Scotland and Wales put together. As might be expected, house price growth in France has been significantly lower than in the UK.
Something has to change, or both the nation and the Conservative Party will suffer the consequences. This issue could determine the party’s electoral fortunes, which is why it is important to seek out new and exciting policy ideas to reinvigorate home ownership. The benefits of increasing home ownership are clear: creating a more stable society while also giving a stake in the collective country’s future to more people. Almost every person has a natural, almost fundamental, ambition to own the roof over his or her head and be the means of their own security.
It is for this reason that I was delighted to join the judging panel of the Institute of Economic Affair’s Richard Koch Breakthrough Prize, an annual essay competition which looks for market-based solutions to the most pressing problems in society, and which this year tackles the subject of housing.
I have the highest regard and confidence for the intellect and problem-solving potential of the British people, and I believe that the solutions to this issue are there to be found. Few topics have been more widely discussed or disseminated than the United Kingdom’s chronic housing shortage so I am confident that there are bold, exciting and radical ideas to not only relieve our housing shortage, but also rejuvenate our propertyowning democracy.
This is by no means to minimise the problem. An idea is one thing. The political will to implement that idea – sometimes in the teeth of loud and vociferous protestations – is something else entirely. I look forward to both seeing the ideas that come from this prize and also working with other politicians to make sure those ideas are subsequently put into practice.