Now that the question of Brexit has been settled following the general election victory, it gives us chance to discuss some incredibly pressing domestic issues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the most pressing issue is that of\nhomeownership, and with it, home building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Conservatives we fundamentally understand that the\nbest way to build a cohesive society is for the people within a country to own\ntheir home, lay some roots and feel part of their community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regrettably this aspiration for many people,\nparticularly the youngest, is fast becoming a fantasy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is not an issue that has been born out overnight,\nit\u2019s the result of over 30 years of changing legislation and economics that have\ncreated the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since the mid 2000s, Labour and Conservative\ngovernments have tried to help younger buyers get on to the housing ladder.\nLabour reduced stamp duty land tax to 0% for first time buyers. The\nConservatives, under David Cameron, introduced amongst other things the \u2018Help\nto Buy\u2019 scheme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sadly, all the measures seem to have done is to stoke\nthe demand side of the market without addressing the other issue on the\nprobable lack of supply. As a result, house prices keep continuing to rise, and\nvastly faster than increases in wages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a result, in 1998 the average house price was 4\ntimes the average annual salary. Today it is 8 times the average annual salary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When discussing homeownership amongst the youngest, in\n1991 67% of 25 to 34 year olds owned their own home. Today that figure has\nfallen to just 38% and given birth to the term, \u2018generation Rent.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whilst the reasons for this phenomenon are complex,\npart of the issue is the lack of homebuilding. Changes in legislation and\nmarket forces often mean that large developers find it more profitable to sit\non land rather than build.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Based on 2016 prices, the average price of residential\nland in the mid 1950s was \u00a3150k per hectare. In the mid 1990s it had increased\nto \u00a31.3m and by 2007 \u00a35m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In England, land without planning permission is worth \u00a320k\nper hectare. The same land with planning permission is worth \u00a32m per hectare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coupled with these issues has been the extreme lack of\nnew housing that has been delivered. France, a country with a comparable\npopulation and population growth to the UK, has completed 16.7 million new\nhomes since 1970. In the same period, the UK has completed just 8.9 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is good to see that our manifesto has pledged to close\nthis housing gap by firstly pledging to complete 300,000 new homes a year.\nAdditionally there is a pledge to provide support for builders using modern\nmethods of construction and by making it easier for people to self build should\nthey chose to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is still worth noting, however, that some analysts\nand commentators are very skeptical as to whether these measures go far enough.\nFurther analysis, legislation and support will be required to the construction\nindustry in the years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The risk for the Conservative party politically is\nstark. As Labour elects a new leader the threat of socialism is still close at\nhand, whoever replaces Jeremy Corbyn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Given that scores of 18-24 year olds flock to the left wing cause, and are very anti-Brexit, unless we are able to deal with issue and show that only a Conservative government can really help people achieve the simplest of aspirations, we may find ourselves out of power again for a duration similar to that from 1997 to 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Andrew Crawford, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Secretary, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
British Conservatives in Paris (BCiP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Now that the question of Brexit has been settled following the general election victory, it gives us chance to discuss some incredibly pressing domestic issues. Perhaps the most pressing issue is that of homeownership, and with it, home building. As Conservatives we fundamentally understand that the best way to build a cohesive society is for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":2570,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2696","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2696"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2697,"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2696\/revisions\/2697"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}