Sir Keir Starmer has accused Rishi Sunak of being a “blancmange” prime minister who “wobbled” over a Tory backbench revolt on mandatory housebuilding targets.
The Labour leader said the PM had “sold out” aspiring homeowners after the government watered down local targets to avoid an embarrassing Commons rebellion.
Sir Keir used PMQs to question why Mr Sunak would rather “cripple housebuilding” in England than accept Labour support to get more homes built.
“His backbenchers threatened him, and as always the blancmange PM wobbled,” he said. “He did a grubby deal with a handful of his MPs and sold out the aspirations of those who want to own their own home.”
Sir Keir told the Commons: “The former housing secretary [Sajid Javid] on their side said scrapping mandatory targets … would be colossal failure of political leadership – no wonder he doesn’t want to fight the next election.”
Mr Sunak responded: “We’re not going to work with Labour on housing … The Labour party talks, the Conservatives deliver.”
The PM said the government’s now-revised Levelling up and Regeneration Bill would both protect the greenbelt and provide “protection for local neighbourhood plans”.
The U-turn would make the target of 300,000 new homes a year advisory rather than mandatory, with councils able to build fewer if they prove it would “significantly change the character” of their area.
The move announced on Monday represents a victory for a group of Tory backbenchers led by MPs Theresa Villiers and Bob Seely. Around 60 MPs had signed an amendment that would have scrapped mandatory targets.
After opposition parties accused ministers of being “weak”, housing secretary Michael Gove insisted: “I think it makes the government look strong because we are delivering on the planning reform that we promised a year ago.”
The Sunak’s government has also U-turned on onshore wind, bowing to pressure from Tory backbenchers to relent on the construction of new onshore wind farms.
Mr Gove’s levelling up department confirmed on Tuesday evening that the government was now consulting on how local communities can consent to fresh projects.
It comes as MPs said the Sunak government is unlikely to meet its housebuilding targets, falling short by 32,000 homes from its original 2016 and 2021 goals for affordable homes.
The Public Accounts Committee also criticised that not enough socially-rented homes are being constructed to help ease the national housing crisis.
MPs on the committee also noted that there is no formal target for how many of the 300,000 overall new homes a year – a goal set out in the 2019 Conservative manifesto – should be affordable.
Committee chair Labour MP Dame Meg Hillier said that “amid all the building targets there isn’t one for affordable or socially rented homes … This does not augur well for generation rent or those in desperate need of genuinely affordable homes”.
