King’s Speech

Lord Jamieson Excerpts

Wednesday 20th May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Jamieson (Con)]

My Lords, I declare my interest as a councillor in Central Bedfordshire Council.

As my noble friend Lady Scott of Bybrook said, we have a housing crisis, and nowhere is that clearer than in London. The noble Lord, Lord Livermore, often speaks of 14 years of a Conservative Government. Well, after 10 years of a Labour mayor in London, do this Government really believe the situation in the capital is improving? There are 13,000 rough sleepers in London, up 10% this year. That represents around one-quarter of the English total. More than 75,000 London households are in temporary accommodation, over half the English total, and there are 341,000 households on London waiting lists. Many private renters in London are paying over 50% of their income on rent.

Despite all that, housebuilding in London continues to fall. Latest figures show that in quarter 1 of this year only 937 new homes were registered. That is a drop of 84% in the last decade and well below the target of 88,000 homes a year. Affordable housing starts in London have fallen by almost 80%, to around 4,500 last year. We on this side of the House have consistently argued for prioritising and facilitating building on brownfield land in London, yet the Government have failed to deliver. Of course we need safe buildings and quality homes, but how many more costs and delays can developers absorb before they stop being viable?

Recent analysis from Ackroyd Lowrie shows build costs have increased 80% in the last decade, whereas house prices are up only around 14%, and in some cases the average London build costs now exceed average selling prices. Adding layers of bureaucracy and costs in the pursuit of the ideal home is resulting in no homes at all. London Councils spends more than £4 million daily on temporary accommodation. What are the justifications of the Government and the mayor for managing this crisis rather than solving it? London does not lack demand, sites or potential funding. We need to remove the blockers. We need a system that delivers homes quickly, at lower cost and at scale.

Moving on, we have previously debated right to buy. Reinvesting proceeds from right to buy into a new home provides two homes in the place of one. It can be done. Many councils, including my own, Central Bedfordshire, have successfully used right-to-buy proceeds to build more homes than were sold; not only that but it has enabled a focus on more specialist accommodation for the elderly and those with disabilities, and on temporary accommodation—which someone mentioned earlier—all of which were in short supply. This is a pragmatic solution: reinvesting to build more homes.

Getting on the housing ladder is increasingly difficult and out of reach for many. It is not only the deposit; it is higher mortgage rates, driven by the economic policy of this Government. Help to Buy has gone and stamp duty relief for first-time buyers has been reduced. When I bought my first home, you bought what you could afford—usually something small and somewhere less fashionable—and then, over time, you moved on. That was how people got started and how communities regenerated. That is how staircasing works. Today, much of that progress is wiped out by stamp duty and fees. For many families, moving home now comes with a tax bill the size of a deposit. This is not how we support the economy or aspiration.

If we are to address the housing crisis this country faces, we must solve the London housebuilding crisis. We need a practical system that builds more homes and helps people on to the housing ladder.