Rishi Sunak and Sadiq Khan at loggerheads over London housebuilding
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has threatened to wade into mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s efforts on housebuilding in the capital.
The politicians traded verbal blows today as the PM accused the mayor of failing to build enough homes for Londoners, while Khan branded his claims “desperate nonsense”.
Speaking during a visit to a development in Hayes, west London, where he met builders and residents, Sunak said: “Labour’s Sadiq Khan has failed to deliver the homes London needs, driving up prices and making it harder for families to get on the housing ladder.
“So I’m stepping in to boost housebuilding and make home ownership a reality again for Londoners.”
But hitting back on Twitter, Khan asked: “Are you the same guy who dropped his house building targets?
“Because I’m the guy who started building more council homes than the rest of England combined, exceeded your affordable homes targets and built more homes of any kind than since the 1930s. This is desperate nonsense.”
‘Top down’ housing?
The row comes after Sunak previously criticised “top-down targets” for building, while in recent days his government has outlined reforms and plans to address the issue in England.
No10 is to review the multi-decade London plan, which is a blueprint for development in the city over the next 20 to 25 years, and wants to prioritise greater urban density.
Levelling up and housing secretary Michael Gove said he wants to see a “Docklands 2.0” style development in east London, which he said could “transform more unwanted and underused land into beautiful and thriving neighbourhoods”.
Downing Street has also announced an additional £200m for developing brownfield areas in the capital, of which £150m will go directly to boroughs, bypassing the mayor’s office.
The rules on how £1bn already allocated for affordable housing in London is spent will also be relaxed to support the regeneration of older social housing estates.
Rent control rejection
Sunak has also rejected Khan’s call to give his office the powers to introduce a system of rent controls.
Speaking to ITV News, the PM said: “Wherever they have been used rent controls don’t work… they just reduce the supply of new housing and reduce the quality of it as well. That is not the right answer to this question.”
Housing is widely expected to be a key issue in the next general election, expected to land sometime next year, with Brits struggling with mortgage repayments and rental prices.
Conservative backbenchers have been split over the issue, with some in the party branded ‘NIMBYs’ (standing for ‘Not in my backyard’) by opponents for seeking to block development, while others urge more builds.
In May, Khan highlighted his housing delivery record, citing how he had surpassed a target of starting 116,000 affordable homes in London between 2015 and 2023.
A spokesperson for the mayor of London said the PM’s claims were “disappointing and disingenuous” and showed “a fundamental lack of understanding of housebuilding in London”.
They said: “The mayor delivered record numbers of affordable homes over the last six years, consistently exceeding government targets despite the impact of the pandemic and Brexit. The London Plan was approved by the government in 2021 and the ministers should know that the housing figures included within it are reliant on sufficient government investment in infrastructure, particularly transport.”