Keir Starmer vows to ‘bulldoze’ Nimby objections to get 1.5million homes built across Britain as he says Labour is ‘in the right place’ to win the election after upbeat conference
Keir Starmer today vowed to ‘bulldoze’ aside local objections to get 1.5million homes built across Britain if he wins the election.
The Labour leader vowed to get tough with nimbys including Labour MPs to try to block an increase in homebuilding in their constituencies.
In a round of media interviews Sir Keir denied that the policy – which would involve scrapping protections for parts of the green belt – was ‘wishful thinking’.
He said that unlike other governments he was willing to overhaul the planning system, saying: ‘We are going to have to be tough with anybody who stands in the way of that and that will include any Labour MPs who say: ”Well, I’m signed up to the project but just not here….
‘I think one of the problems we have is that planning is at the moment very, very localised.
“There isn’t the ability to look across a wider area and say: ”Where would the best place be for this development? Where could we have a new town?” And so we need to bulldoze through it, but we also need to be pragmatic about how we do it.’
He told Times Radio he was confident he could hit his house-building target, which would include plans for the next generation of new towns.
He boasted that Labour is ‘in the right place’ to win power today after his big conference speech.
A bullish Keir Starmer today pointed to striking by-election wins in Selby and Rutherglen as he dismissed criticism that voters still do not know where he stands
A bullish Sir Keir pointed to striking by-election wins in Selby and Rutherglen as he dismissed criticism that voters still do not know where he stands.
After the address to activists was nearly derailed by an stage invader who covered him in glitter, Sir Keir said his instant reaction had been not to let the ‘idiot’ protester ‘ruin four years of hard work’.
Asked if he feared for his safety, he said: ‘I just wanted to get on with the speech and that’s why I rolled up my sleeves and got on with it.
‘I didn’t want that idiot to interrupt that and I don’t want that idiot to dominate what I’ve got to say today.’
Sir Keir said he was confident he could hit his target of 1.5million new homes in five years.
Asked if he would resign as PM if he missed the target, he said: ‘One of things I’ve been doing in the last six to 12 months is bombproofing everything we put out as a party, and some people have interpreted those shifts of position as somehow a weakness – actually it’s a strength to say ‘I will not put anything before the electorate after what they’ve been through, which I do not think is credible, that can’t be delivered’.’
He added: ‘I’m very comfortable putting our proposal before the electorate, fully thought-through, credible, and in which I have confidence.
‘In five years time if we’re lucky enough to get elected next time to serve, the electorate will have their chance to judge whether we are delivering on what we’ve said. I’m confident we will. But of course the electorate will have to judge.
‘But what I don’t want to do and didn’t want to do yesterday was to pretend that all of this can be done in one five-year term, the damage that’s been done to our country is huge. And that’s why I talked in terms of a 10-year project of national renewal.’
Pressed on ITV’s Good Morning Britain whether Labour had lurched to the right, Sir Keir said the by-election results showed that the party was ‘in the right place’ and in line with the public.
Sir Keir warned that another Tory election victory would put the NHS ‘in the ground’ during his speech yesterday.
He gave the chilling warning about the health service – reminiscent of Tony Blair’s ’24 hours to save the NHS’ in 1997 – as he claimed the ‘tide is turning’ for the party.
The Opposition leader insisted he is the person to ‘heal’ the country – but warned it will require a ‘decade of national renewal’.
He also confirmed that Labour wants to declassify ‘low quality’ parts of the green belt, dismissing it as the ‘grey belt’ and saying he would ‘bulldoze’ through planning restrictions.
Sir Keir made another effort to distance himself from the Corbyn era, insisting that reform did not mean a ‘cheque book state’ and playing down the prospect of tax hikes.
On Israel, he challenged pro-Palestinian activists by boldly branding Hamas ‘terrorists’ for the bloody attacks on civilians.
The Tories complained that Sir Keir had not mentioned immigration, although there was a brief reference to ‘movement of people’ due to climate change.
Jeremy Corbyn – banned from standing as an MP again but still a party member – said Sir Keir was ‘rolling out the red carpet for climate vandals, arms firms and private healthcare’.
But the big conference speech was partly overshadowed by a major security breach today when a protester invaded the stage screaming ‘democracy is in crisis’.
Sir Keir was just about to start his speech when the man ran up to the podium and started shouting and throwing what appeared to be glitter on his jacket.
The man was wrestled to the ground by security after his protest, with Sir Keir resuming his speech saying he was not ‘bothered’
Sir Keir was left rubbing glitter from his hair after the extraordinary incident
He yelled ‘politics needs an update’, ‘we demand a people’s house’, ‘we are in crisis’ and ‘our whole future is in jeopardy’ as he was wrestled to the ground.
Sir Keir was praised for taking off his jacket and continuing after the man was removed saying, ‘If he thinks that bothers me he doesn’t know me.’
He also joked that he was glad it hadn’t happened to his wife Victoria because her dress was ‘beautiful’.
The extraordinary incident will raise huge concerns about the protection for the Opposition leader. It is the second time during this year’s event that an interloper managed to get to the podium.
Unlike the Tory gathering, Labour conference has delegates speaking during debates in the main hall, and the numbers in the audience are far higher.
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