Chancellor Rachel Reeves says she will make 'hard choices' to ensure new homes are built

Rachel Reeves vowed to take “difficult decisions” because there is “no time to waste” with boosting growth, ITV News Correspondent Ben Chapman reports

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said the government will make the “tough” and “hard choices” to fix the UK’s economy and to ensure home are being built.

In her first major speech, Reeves vowed to take “difficult decisions” because there is “no time to waste” with boosting growth.

Labour will “fix the foundations” of the British economy, she said, arguing 14 years of Tory rule had cost £140 billion in lost growth.

Infrastructure and delays in housebuilding were among the party's key manifesto considerations, with the election campaign pledging to build 1.5 million homes over the next five years.

Speaking in London, Reeves insisted she wanted to deliver on that commitment.

She set out the government’s plans to review greenbelt boundaries to prioritise brownfield and so-called grey belt land to meet housebuilding targets, which she said would include affordable housing and housing for social rent.

What is grey belt land?

Coined by the Labour party, the term 'grey belt land' refers to 'poor quality' green belt land.

In an effort to ease the housing crisis, the new government promises to develop more homes on wastelands and former car parks.

The government will ask the Transport Secretary Louise Haigh and Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband to prioritise decisions on “infrastructure projects that have been sitting unresolved for far too long”, she said. “I know that there will be opposition to this. “I’m not naive to that, and we must acknowledge that trade-offs always exist. Any development may have environmental consequences, place pressure on services and rouse voices of local opposition, but we will not succumb to a status quo which responds to the existence of trade-offs by always saying no,” Reeves said.

Rachel Reeves became the first woman to get the keys to No 11 Credit: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Key takeaways from Rachel Reeves' first speech as chancellor

  • Chancellor promises to make "hard choices" to "fix the foundations” of the British economy.

  • Government will restore mandatory housing targets, with Reeves committing to manifesto pledge of 1.5 million new homes over the next five years.

  • Labour will ensure social and affordable homes are spread across the UK.

  • Reeves will reform national policy framework to build new infrastructure.

  • Autumn budget date to be announced before summer recess.

  • On the revival of the HS2 northern leg, Reeves said: "We are not going to make any promises without saying where the money is going to come from".

ITV News Economics and Business Editor Joel Hills questioned the new chancellor on when the Labour government will deliver on the 1.5 million homes - or 300,000 new homes a year.

Reeves responded: "We can't build overnight, but that's why we have set out today the initial steps that we are going to take to unlock private sector investments to build those homes."

She also promised the homes will be built across the nation and the geography of the homes will be considered.

Taking questions after her speech, she also called on the help of private investment to help build homes and said: "We're not going to be in the business of building those homes directly - we need the construction sector, the housebuilding sector to build those homes."

She said it will mean housing that has been "stalled" will "now go forward," but warned that the government will "take an interventionist approach to make sure that we've got the housing mix that our country needs".

This comes just days after Reeves was appointed as chancellor, following the General Election last week.

She is the first woman in Britain's history to take on the role. She told ITV News: "I feel like I’m smashing one of the last glass ceilings in politics, and I’m really proud to do that.

“But along with it, comes a really big responsibility to pass on to our daughters and granddaughters a society and economy that works better for women, and I’m determined to work with my team to do just that.”

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