New Prime Minister Andy Burnham has announced that he will draw up a ten-year plan for Britain later this year.
Burnham will become Britain’s seventh Prime Minister in just over a decade, taking over from Sir Kier Starmer.
Today Steve Reed also announced that he has resigned as Housing Minister.
In his two-page letter to new Prime Minister Burnham, Reed said: “I am disappointed to have to leave the government now, I wish your new team the best of luck.”
Reed took on the role of housing secretary in September last year following the resignation of Angela Rayner over her tax affairs.
Burnham’s first speech
Making his first speech as Prime Minister today, Burnham said: “Later this year I will put forward a new plan for Britain, a ten-year plan, which sets out a path from where we are today to where I believe we all want Britain to be, wherever we come from, whatever party we support.”
He also noted: “we will build more social housing”. This comes after he pledged the largest social housing building program since the post-war period.
In his speech at the end of June, Burnham said the housing crisis was having a “devastating effect” on public finances.
Housing was one of the key domestic policies in former Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s 2024 general election manifesto, with an ambitious pledge to build 1.5 million new homes during the five-year parliament.
Savills recently predicted that only around half of the government’s annual target of 300,000 new homes would be completed in the next five years.
Commenting on today’s Burnham speech, Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark, said: “Propertymark welcomes Andy Burnham to Downing Street, and we look forward to learning more about proposals aimed at tackling today’s housing challenges. There are still many complex challenges in delivering a sustainable mix of affordable housing in every region.”
“Over the coming months it will be vital that the sector has a clear opportunity to engage with the UK Government on key housing issues to ensure the manifesto pledge to deliver 1.5 million homes across England becomes a reality.”
“Looking at the bigger picture, a diverse housing mix must be achieved with a regional focus and supported by robust local infrastructure. Building homes is the challenge; building well-designed, functional communities must be the goal.”
Today the new Prime Minister said his first priority is to launch an urgent national action to end sleep problems.
Burnham said: “On my first day as Prime Minister, I am announcing this government’s commitment to finally bringing an end to Britain’s long-standing unrest as soon as possible.”
Valentin Boboc, senior economist at the Institute for Economic Affairs, comments: “The persistent problem of rough sleeping shows how serious Britain’s housing shortage is. To tackle this, the Prime Minister should focus on accelerating private housing construction across the country to make future efforts more cost-effective.”