Keir the Builder: can he fix it?

Economic growth is at the heart of Labour’s mandate for change. As widely trailed, the King’s Speech emphasised the role that the built environment must play to get the economy moving and deliver growth – with a quarter of the proposed bills including an infrastructure component, according to the ICE.

But while the faces are fresh and the tone has changed, there are questions over how the new government will turn ideas into practice – and how it will manage competing interests among backbenchers and local government.

Power to the people?

Angela Rayner – deputy prime minister and secretary of state for housing, communities and local government – says she wants to empower local and combined authorities to act in the interest of their own communities. The English Devolution Bill will seek to give local leaders greater control over strategic planning, and provide opportunities for them to bring forward ‘local growth plans’.

In parallel, we’re seeing a top-down enforcement of the government’s national agenda. The new prime minister knows he needs to make good on his pledge to “back the builders not the blockers”.

Those in the development sector believe that this is not what every local authority or elected representative wants, especially those with green belts to protect.

It’s fair to say that the current system can favour the opposition. Over recent years we’ve increasingly seen projects delayed or scuppered entirely, even as the pressure to feed the demand for new homes and economic growth reaches crisis point.

There’s hope that the forthcoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill will help tackle the many hurdles each planning application must jump, and industry has broadly hailed it as a ‘step in the right direction’.

But the new proposed law begs the question as to how ‘enabling democratic engagement’ squares with the government’s message that from now, it’s a question of how not if homes are built.

Greater autonomy for local communities is good – but what happens when councils don’t agree? The government can’t sidestep this fundamental question which goes beyond planning debates and to the heart of how our democratic system functions. Who should hold power over what?

Already there’s the threat of Labour MPs siding with local opposition in the face of new housing targets. With a so-called supermajority in parliament, Starmer’s government should be able to push big moves on development through – but that needs to happen sooner rather than later.

The question of where power lies will be a big one for Labour. In the absence of a strong opposition in Westminster, relationships between central, regional and local government have the potential to become a political battle that defines this parliament.

People and funding are the foundations of success

Of course there are other factors at play when it comes to rebuilding – it will be hard to have an impact without the money to get it started and the workforce to deliver it. Winston Churchill once said “Give us the tools and we will finish the job”. With the skills shortage dogging the construction industry, today it’s a question of who would finish the job? And do they have the materials and equipment?

Starmer’s commitment to invest in skills and reform the apprenticeship levy is welcome but it’s impossible to train a new generation of talent within a single parliamentary term.

Labour’s long list of challenges doesn’t stop there – and building good quality affordable homes doesn’t come cheap. But as we wait for clarity over what the bills mean in practice, there are reasons to be hopeful. Can he fix it? We know that change can’t happen overnight and momentum will be key – so let’s get started.