Today, the second day of the Conservative Party Conference, began with an 8.30am panel event organised by the Centre for Social Justice. This panel discussed the housing crisis and included a number of representatives from various organisations, including Liam Halligan economist and author of a book on housing, ‘Home Truths’, John Penrose MP, and a London-based social housing provider, Geeta Nanda OBE.
It was interesting talking to Mr Halligan about his book on why we have such a chronic housing shortage, how it happened and why it matters. Our housing shortage really does matter and has happened because the demand for housing is greater than housing production. This is not one government’s failure to address the housing shortage - between 2000 and 2019 the UK population grew by nearly 10 million - and house building has not kept up with the demand. In other words, we have not built enough homes to meet this country’s needs. There are various reasons for this including cost of land (70% of the cost of building new homes is the purchase of the land), protection of the greenbelt, land banking by developers, skills shortages and a decline in the small- and medium-sized housebuilding sector – to name but a few.
It was interesting to hear that since 1970, the average price of a house has risen four and a half times after inflation, more than any OECD country, and the area of green belt land has grown far beyond what was initially planned in the 1930s, more than doubling since the 1970s.
As a member of the panel, I spoke about the need for social and affordable housing, especially in coastal communities like Hastings and Rye. Poor housing is common in coastal communities with a lack of social and affordable homes, poor quality HMOs and private rentals. This has a knock-on effect on both physical and mental health. As a Conservative, I fundamentally believe in home ownership – that everyone should have the opportunity to own their own home - and the Government is rightly engaging in an ambitious policy to build good quality homes that people want to live in. However, we cannot, and should not, forget or ignore the necessity for a safety net; for good quality social homes that people enjoy living in. We know that not everyone can afford to buy their own home and that some people will spend their whole lives in social housing, whilst many will use it as a springboard to buy their own home.
Building new affordable homes for ownership and rent is a vital policy area. We know that good quality, safe, affordable housing provides security, improves health and well-being and is a key factor in combating poverty. A shortage of affordable housing limits families’ and individuals’ choices about where they live, often forcing lower-income families into substandard, mostly privately rented, housing, affecting their ability to meet other expenses such as food and heating - often forcing a trade-off between these basic needs. Housing can therefore make or break a child’s chances in life. Coronavirus highlighted not only how important our homes are to us, but also the extent of our housing crisis and the need for affordable, secure and comfortable homes. Building social homes must be a priority of our social and economic recovery from the after-effects of Covid as well as the ongoing cost of living we are experiencing due to Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
Building social homes will improve the lives of so many people; families living in temporary accommodation or living in overcrowded homes, rough sleepers and those struggling to pay rent. Building new homes will also help grow the economy and create jobs.
I then had a walk around the stands and stopped to speak to various organisations and charities such as Marie Curie, Alzheimer’s Association and so on. I had a meeting arranged with Carer’s UK, an organisation which seeks to help make life better for carers, of which there are around 6.5 million across the UK. It is staggering to think that every day, 6,000 people become carers – many needing to leave work or reduce their hours in order to look after their loved one. Most carers are unpaid, juggling work and family life, or even elderly themselves. Many are stretched not only as regards the demands on their time, but also financially. Carers often feel lonely and isolated but there is help and support available and Carers UK are there to provide just that. I have been asked to champion their new campaign for better financial support for carers, which I am happy to do. Carers UK also thanked me for my support for the Carers Leave Private Members Bill, which had its Second Reading in Parliament postponed due to the death of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth. I had written my speech for this debate but cannot now attend due to a very good reason! The new debate is on Friday 21st October - the day on which I am hosting a Seniors Fair in Rye at the Community Centre, Conduit Hill, 2pm to 4pm. Please do pop along or, if not appropriate for you, encourage others to do so!
Around noon, I had agreed to take part in a roundtable organised by the Royal College of General Practitioners focused on making general practice fit for the future. I had been asked to attend - and I had no hesitation is agreeing to participate. Afterall, Hastings and St. Leonards have a shortage of GPs (and dentists) and I wanted to highlight the issues of recruitment and retention of GPs and dentists especially in coastal communities. It was interesting to hear the bald statistics: GPs and their teams see nearly 50 million people in England each year, with 370 million consultations carried out in 2021 alone. At the same time, general practice continues to face unsustainable workload and a rapidly declining workforce which has led the profession to call for urgent action.
A recent RCGP survey showed that:
- 68% of GPs say they don’t have enough time to adequately assess and treat patients during appointments
- It is impossible for most GPs to manage the workload required in the time allocated, meaning on average they work 10 hours more a week than their contracted hours
- 74% said that their practice does not have sufficient physical space necessary to accommodate new staff
- 42% of GPs say that they are planning to quit the profession in the next five years
From discussions, it was clear that patients, GP’s and their teams are relying on policies that are no longer fit for our growing and ageing population. I felt that the in-depth discussion with a broad panel of MPs and health industry experts was productive and should result in some useful recommendations being sent to policy makers.
After a delightful glass of wine with Hastings and Rye Conservative Association members, I was sufficiently fortified to do an interview with BBC South East on the 45 pence tax cut and resulting turn around, before heading off to an event hosted by Conservatives Against Freedom For Equality (CARFE). CARFE is the UK’s first centre-right organisation, developed by young Conservatives, dedicated to race relations. I am newly Chair of this organisation.
Just as I was on my way out of Birmingham’s International Convention Centre secure zone to attend the event, the whole ICC went into lockdown for over an hour due to a security threat. I took advantage of the time to write up some notes on the two events that I had taken part in the day before. The first was a panel event hosted by Southern Water which also included representatives from the house building and farming sectors, and it was chaired by our very own Cllr Lizzie Hacking on ‘Clean and healthy water – how can we work with nature’. We are all aware of the recent anger about the performance of water companies, and Southern Water was keen to have a panel event with MPs and Councillors, as well as representatives of the housebuilding, agriculture and the third sector, to discuss how we can best collaborate to improve water quality and ensure the right infrastructure is in place for generations to come. The public rightly expect clean and healthy rivers and seas. With climate change and population growth bringing further challenges, we discussed how can we take a cross-sectoral approach to work in partnership and find more nature-based solutions to improve our water infrastructure for the long-term. After this, I spoke at and chaired a panel event hosted by the National Oceanography Centre ‘Ocean Question Time: from green shipping to blue carbon. This was very well attended and focused on the ocean’s future, challenges, potential and how we can all collectively safeguard it for future generations.
I then had to find a quiet spot (virtually impossible, even in the ‘Parliamentary Lounge’) to give a pre-recorded interview to BBC Sussex radio, where I was quizzed on the ‘hoo ha’ surrounding the Chancellor’s decision to reverse the 45 pence tax cut. I emphasised that, as a Conservative, I believe in low taxation, but to increase spending to help households and businesses with energy bills to the tune of around £100 billion, whilst cutting taxes at the same time, leaves a funding gap. It was therefore not only politically right to overturn the reduction in the top rate of tax at this moment in time, but economically correct too. I also emphasised the importance of ambitious, far-reaching supply side reforms to ramp-up economic growth and urged the Chancellor to bring forward the announcement of these ambitious plans as soon as possible.
After some general chit-chat with colleagues, I joined a joint KPMG and Demos roundtable dinner to discuss the future of towns and levelling-up, based on their recent report ‘Movers and Stayers’. I was asked to provide discussion points from the perspective of a coastal community MP and as Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary group for Coastal Communities. Discussions centred around why young people especially leave towns, what can be done to encourage people to stay and what support can be given to those who choose to stay. As I was the only MP to attend amongst around 25 to 30 people, it was good practice for me to respond to various discussion points on policy.
I could have then gone on to a late-night drinks’ reception….but my bed was calling! Szzzzzzz.