Theresa May’s political problems on housebuilding might not be as big as she thinks

Does Theresa May want to build more homes? The problems that the Prime Minister faces on this matter were summed up very neatly by two different Tory backbenchers at Prime Minister’s Questions today. She was asked by Tom Tughendhat whether she would ‘take the chance to build more homes’, to which she replied that ‘my hon. friend makes a very important point about investing in infrastructure, particularly in housing. We are doing exactly that, which is why we have seen more than a quarter of a trillion pounds in infrastructure spending since 2010’, though she didn’t specifically mention housing. Later, Theresa Villiers asked the Prime Minister to ‘assure the House that the Government she leads will never weaken protection for the green belt’. May replied:

‘We have been very clear about our position in relation to the green belt, and indeed we confirmed that in the housing White Paper that we set out, where we were very clear about that too.