Britain needs more houses. Does the industry want to build them?

Britain’s politicians are finally beginning to compete to . Sir Keir Starmer, Labour’s leader, promises to oversee the building of 1.5m homes over five years if it wins the next election. The Tories have consistently fallen short of the target of 300,000 new homes per year (see chart), but last month Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, announced reforms to the planning system and additional subsidies for affordable homes. That followed a relaxation in environmental rules which had crimped some projects.