Lords sink Sunak’s homebuilding plans

Tonight the House of Lords has blocked the government’s plan to relax restrictions on water pollution to encourage housebuilding. Ministers wanted to remove EU-era ‘nutrient neutrality rules’ so as to enable 100,000 new homes to be built by 2030. But the government was defeated by 203 votes to 156 over the issue. Three Conservative peers – including Lord Deben, the former chair of the climate change committee – voted against the government alongside opposition peers. Deben was especially caustic, describing the proposed changes as ‘one of the worst pieces of legislation I have ever seen and I’ve been around a long time.’

Normally, defeats in the Lords can be reversed in the Commons, using the still-hefty Tory majority of 60. But because the government’s plans to scrap these rules came through a late stage amendment to Michael Gove’s Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, it cannot try again in the House of Commons now it has been defeated in the Lords.