Budget Resolutions

Natalie Elphicke Excerpts

Wednesday 6th March 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Natalie Elphicke (Dover) (Con)]

I am delighted to follow the hon. Member for York Central (Rachael Maskell), who so often speaks with such passion on issues of poverty. I have very much enjoyed my visits over the years to the National Railway Museum. I will certainly take up her invitation to visit it in its renewed state in due course.

There is much to welcome in today’s Budget: taxes cut for working people, both the employed and the self-employed; progress on tackling inflation, which makes such a difference to everyday living costs; and the fuel duty provisions, which are so important to areas such as Dover and Deal, and so different from the tax on motorists by Labour’s London Mayor. The household support fund provides opportunities and support in Dover and Deal and across Kent to so many people, and I welcome the extension. The increase in the VAT threshold for small businesses to £90,000 is important. A number of local businesses have been in contact with me about that. I know that it will be important to hospitality businesses in our area. Finally, the focus on better healthcare outcomes and the investment are both welcome.

However, this could and should have been a Budget for housing. That opportunity has been missed. There has been a misanalysis by the Treasury of the fundamental importance of housing to achieving other objectives to do with wellbeing, health, educational opportunities, and the creation of savings and individual wealth over a lifetime. Not having the housing that is needed has caused a 23% increase in bed and breakfast housing, a 12% increase in the number of children in temporary accommodation, and a huge number of under-40s who are struggling to get on the housing ladder while paying record levels of rent. All that costs the taxpayer money; temporary accommodation costs councils £1.7 billion.

The Budget increases the housing benefit budget to £36 billion in 2024-25. It is throwing good money after bad to continuously spend on high-expenditure private rented housing, instead of spending on affordable and social housing, as should and could have been done in this Budget. That matters because England has fewer available homes for its population than any comparable developed nation, the lowest rate of available properties per population of all OECD countries, the oldest housing stock, and one of the highest proportions of substandard and inadequate housing.

Housing could and should have been a priority for this Budget. A Budget for housing could have accelerated the delivery of 100,000 affordable homes over the next 18 to 24 months. It could have provided a much needed boost to GDP of £15 billion to £17 billion per 100,000 new homes delivered. The Chancellor spoke today about inward investment; the value of house building to GDP underlines what an important industry it is. We could have seen an opening up of pensions to help first-time buyers get on the housing ladder while still saving for their pensions over the long term. That would transform home ownership opportunities for the under-40s, and put home ownership back within reach of working people aged 30 or under. There is so much more besides, but this has been a missed opportunity on housing.

I will raise two issues in the detailed Budget papers. First, there is the provision for a stamp duty land tax exemption for social housing. The papers state that that is available only for housing subject to public subsidy, but a large amount—indeed, the majority—of additional affordable housing is provided through section 106 and other planning requirements, and is not the recipient of public subsidy. That is the expectation of Homes England and the Greater London Authority. Will the Minister relook at the SDLT provisions to ensure that they reflect both a level playing field for all registered housing providers in the sector and the realities of the housing market?

Secondly, unleashing pension fund investment has been a long-term goal in the housing industries. Tremendous progress has been made in that area in recent years, yet so much more can be done. Will the Minister consider making housing part of the essential infrastructure provided for under the new unlocking of pension funds, and consider how the new UK ISA can be better used to help people get on the housing ladder?

Housing and house building are fundamental to the success of our country, the wellbeing of our nation and the prosperity of individuals, and they are therefore important to us all. I regret that that has not been properly reflected in the Budget, but I hope that I can meet the Minister to continue these discussions, and to see what can be done with the money available to build the homes that our country so desperately needs.