Starmer to unveil ‘patriotic’ plan for next generation of new towns

As MPs and activists gather in a febrile mood, Starmer will promise to “sweep aside the blockers” to build tens of thousands of homes over the next decade. A dozen locations have been identified to create “exemplary communities” that ministers claim could eventually deliver up to 300,000 houses.

Construction will start in at least three places before the next election, with Tempsford in Bedfordshire, the South Bank in Leeds and Crews Hill in Enfield, north London, earmarked as the most likely sites.

The government is taking inspiration from Clement Attlee’s postwar housing programme, with GP surgeries, schools, green spaces and transport links included in the plans.

Each town will have a minimum of 10,000 homes, and development corporations will be set up with special powers, including the right to enforce the compulsory purchase of land.

A new towns unit will drive through the plans. Steve Reed, the housing secretary, will pledge to “do whatever it takes” to get Britain building.

Starmer arrived in Liverpool ay on Saturday for the crucial annual conference, with speculation swirling about his leadership after a difficult few weeks. He will tell his party that it is in a “fight for the soul of the nation” and that it is “not the time” for introspection and in-fighting.

His remarks will be interpreted as a rebuke to Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, who has been touted as a potential alternative leader and will speak at several fringe meetings.

The prime minister hopes the conference will draw a line under a chaotic period that has seen the loss of his deputy, Angela Rayner, and the British ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson. Several key aides have also left No 10.

The latest Opinium poll for The Observer puts Labour on 22%, 10 points behind Reform UK. More than two-thirds of voters think Starmer’s government has not been a success.

The prime minister sought on Friday to regain the initiative by announcing plans for a compulsory digital ID system, as revealed in The Observer last month.

He has set out details of a multimillion-pound levelling up fund and extra powers to revitalise rundown high streets, also highlighted by this newspaper. Starmer is expected to signal his determination this week to scrap the two-child benefit cap as part of efforts to drive down child poverty.

Meanwhile, the chancellor is under growing pressure from Labour MPs to reform property taxes in the November budget.

The influential leaders of the Blue Labour caucus and the “red wall” group are among 16 MPs who have written to Rachel Reeves urging her to scrap the “deeply unfair, inefficient and outdated” council tax and stamp duty.

The signatories argue that the current regime “widens inequality” and  should be replaced by a proportional property tax based on up-to-date valuations.

Council tax, which in England is still based on 1991 property valuations, “bears little resemblance to the realities of today’s housing market”, write the MPs, who include Jo White, the MP for Bassetlaw and chair of the red wall caucus, and Jonathan Brash, the MP for Hartlepool and leader of the Blue Labour group.

“Families in modest homes in our constituencies pay far more, relative to the value of their property, than those in multi-million pound houses in London and the south-east.”

Photograph by Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images