Sunak is playing it safe with new housing plans

Rishi Sunak seems to have realised a trick for pushing more building without confronting Tory Nimbyism. Under plans unveiled today, he’s going to ease restrictions on building in urban areas, where prices are most pressured and where Tory votes are rarely found. Councils missing their housing targets will be restricted in when they can refuse permission, and it will become easier to convert existing buildings into housing. 

It’s a canny dodge. The Conservatives understand that rising house prices are threatening their future, with fewer younger people getting on the housing ladder. At the same time, however, big steps to resolve the crisis would mean a fight with ageing homeowners who already back the party. These latest moves avoid this dilemma. 

The proposals would mean building properties more easily in inner cities, which tend to be overwhelmingly Labour. There will be few Conservative MPs or councillors to worry about getting in the way.