Britain passing up £18bn economic boost due to ‘failure’ to build enough homes

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BRITAIN is passing up on a near £18bn economic boost due to the government and businesses’ “failure to build enough new” homes, a former Tory housing minister has claimed today in a new report.

Brandon Lewis, ex-housing and planning minister, in a foreword to a report by think tank Policy Exchange said decades of weak housing supply has taken its toll on families “in the form of higher house prices, higher rents and higher monthly mortgage repayments”.

Delivering an extra 100,000 homes each year could grow the UK economy by £17.7bn and make the “British dream” of homeownership a closer reality, he added.

Gross domestic product would receive benefits beyond greater construction output, the report said, via stronger productivity gains funded by more evenly distributed investment and higher employment.

Under the 2019 Conservative election manifesto, Rishi Sunak must deliver an additional 300,000 new homes each year by the middle of the current decade. He is poised to miss that goal.

A shortage of homes in the UK has put upward pressure on house prices for years, pricing potential buyers –often younger people with relatively lower deposits –out of the market.

Over the last decade, UK house prices have climbed 74 pear cent, according to the Office for National Statistics, up to £294,328 from £168,842. In London, they have increased to £543,098 from £313,744 over the same period.

On top of sky-high prices, the Bank of England has hiked interest rates 10 times in a row to tame a 40-year high inflation surge, lighting a rocket under mortgage costs.

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British Steel: 260 jobs at risk with coke oven closures

JESSICA FRANK-KEYES

BRITISH Steel yesterday announced 260 jobs are at risk amid proposals to close its coke ovens at its plant in Scunthorpe.

The firm said the UK remains “uncompetitive” compared to rival markets with energy and carbon costs “some of the highest” globally.

It said it had seen a £190m rise last year and the facilities were “reaching the end of their operational life”.

A spokesperson for the firm, owned by Chinese steelmaker Jingye after a £1.2bn buyout in 2020, said

“decisive action” was needed to tackle surging inflation and improve green transition.

The announcement came just months after auditors Mazars resigned in a dispute over fees for its services.

Officials are set to fly to China this week amid talks over a state bailout, with Sky News reporting a possible £300m grant could take the government’s support to £1bn.

British Steel chief executive Xifeng Han said steel was “vital to modern economies” and demand was set to rise.