In the run up to the general election, PBC Today takes a look at what the manifestos submitted by the Labour Party, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party mean for the construction industry
Each political party has now revealed its manifesto, offering points ranging from the NHS, housebuilding and infrastructure and council housing.
But, what do the political manifestos mean for the construction industry?
The Labour Party
A pledge to rebuild Britain
Labour has promised to tackle Britain’s housing crisis by ‘building for the many’, pledging £75bn over five years to fund the largest increase in council home construction since WW2.
Jeremy Corbyn has pledged to build 100,000 council homes a year and 50,000 social homes – all at high environmental standards by the end of Labours first term in office. Only 6,287 council homes were built in 2018-19.
He also wants to remove the borrowing cap on the Housing Revenue Account, set up a National Investment Bank to support housing developments, scrap the bedroom tax and benefit cap and Incentivise local authorities with tax benefits for energy efficient homes
Funding would come from half of the £150bn ‘social transformation fund’ recently announced by the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, and through government borrowing.
Corbyn hopes focusing on housing and other key topics will broaden the general election debate beyond Brexit.
Industry reaction
Commenting on labours political manifesto of £75bn, Clive Docwra, managing director of McBains, said: “Although government figures published yesterday showed an increase in the number of affordable homes built over 2018/19 – a 22% increase on the previous year – these only amounted to just over 57,000 in total, which is way under the number needed to solve the housing crisis.
“But the fact is that more than 300,000 homes a year need to be built to meet housing demand, so Labour’s commitment could have been more ambitious.
“Establishing a government-backed fund through which pension schemes would be able to invest directly in affordable housing construction schemes could be one option.”
Climate Apprenticeship Programme
Labour has announced a new climate apprenticeship programme to deliver 320,000 apprenticeships in England alone during the first term of a Labour government.
These apprenticeships will offer training to school leavers and workers looking to change jobs mid-career creating the engineers, technicians and construction workers needed to transition to a green economy.
The construction sector is facing a skills shortage, and many businesses worry they won’t be able to fill skilled posts in the future. These apprenticeships may help address this shortage in the industry.
It will be funded with the money employers have already set aside for the Apprenticeship Levy, as well as excess dividends in Labours planned Inclusive Ownership Funds.
Government cladding regime
Following the Bolton tower block fire and Grenfell, Labour’s shadow housing minister has written to the housing secretary outlining a 12 questions that require an urgent response.
Sarah Jones wrote: “Two and a half years after Grenfell it simply beggars belief that the government has left eight in ten buildings covered in the same deadly cladding. And it is equally astounding that you neither know how many other types of deadly cladding exist, nor how many buildings are wrapped in it.”
“Labour has been warning since July 2017 that the cladding crisis was not limited to ACM cladding. It took your Government two years to admit that High Pressure Laminate (HPL) was too dangerous to be kept on buildings. Can you corroborate what is indicated by planning documents, that the cladding on the block in Bolton is the same Trespa brand as the failed fire test shown to your department in November 2018”
She has called for action to remove all dangerous types of cladding in buildings.
The Conservative Party
Hospitals
Boris Johnson has announced plans for 40 new hospitals that will be funded from ‘considerable’ weekly savings as a result of Brexit. He will begin with a pledge of £2.7bn for six hospitals over the next five years as part of the conservative’s political manifesto.
The NHS is at a breaking point, and it must be well-maintained to ensure it is capable of meeting growing demand.
Education
Education secretary, Gavin Williamson, has committed £120m to specialist institutes to expand the number of institutes of technology, facilitated through partnerships between businesses, universities and education colleges.
Adopting of offsite construction as the main method of building for new further education facilities would mean that they are built quicker and would provide additional economic benefits too.
Local infrastructure
Sajid Javid has pledged to spend £25bn on upgrading Britain’s ageing road network, in what he is calling an ‘infrastructure revolution’.
A well-maintained road network is crucial to the economic productivity of the UK. 90% of journeys in the UK are taken on roads, and last year 327.1bn miles were travelled on the UK’s roads, a 17% increase since 1997.
Large infrastructure projects
Boris Johnson has also committed to delivering the first leg of Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) between Manchester and Leeds.
They say these pledges should help stop the falling growth in the construction industry and raise the employment levels which are currently at their lowest in a decade.
The conservative party has also announced a ‘fairer deal for renters’, implementing a scheme to allow tenants to transfer their deposit from one property to another.
Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, told Inside Housing : “The commitment to only build 200,000 a year when the government’s own target is in fact 300,000 shows that even the Conservatives don’t think they’d be able to achieve this goal.
“The missing piece in their plan is any investment in new social housebuilding. Without this the housing emergency will continue to get worse.”
In response to the Conservative and Labour pledges, Dave Sheridan, Dave Sheridan, Executive Chairman at ilke Homes, said: “With Labour and the Tories going head-to-head on housing policy, it’s evident that there is a political appetite to get Britain building and deliver housing across a variety of tenures.
“However, delivering those ambitions will need a step-change in how we approach construction, as traditional methods are clearly not delivering at the volume we need.
“Scaling-up modern methods of construction (MMC) will be fundamental to the next government’s success, ensuring that we can deliver high-quality, sustainable homes ready for 21st century living.”
The Conservative Party is expected to launch its entire political manifesto on Sunday (24 November).
The Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are pledging £130bn for infrastructure to build new and improved transport systems (including HS2 and Crossrail 2), schools, hospitals and homes.
The party want to build 300,000 homes a year by 2024, including 100,000 social homes and wants to retrofit 26 million homes by 2030.
They will also cut VAT on home insulation and this is something many in the construction industry have lobbied on for a number of years.
Commenting on the Lib Dems political manifesto, Ifan Glyn, director of Federation of Master Builders, commented on the cut in VAT: “The Lib Dems’ pledge to cut VAT on home insulation is a step in the right direction.
“However, I feel that it needs to go further and VAT should be cut on the labour element of home improvement work across the board. We know that homeowners are more likely to request energy efficiency upgrades as a bolt on to other building work being carried out on their homes.
“Cutting VAT across the board would, therefore, incentivise the de-carbonisation of our homes further.”
The Liberal Democrats, along with the Labour Party have promised to combat the multi-billion pound late payment problem crippling the construction industry which will benefit SMEs and mental health in the industry.
Sustainability in construction
The Liberal Democrats would require all new homes and non-domestic buildings to be built to a zero-carbon standard by 2021, rising to the ambitious target of all new buildings to be Passivhaus by 2025.
Existing homes would also be subject to energy efficiency improvements, with VAT on home insulation materials reduced and minimum energy efficiency standards increased for privately rented properties.
They would also change the National Infrastructure Commission so that it accounts for climate and environmental implications of all national infrastructure decisions.
Their manifesto commits £5bn for a new Green Investment Bank, using public money to attract private investment for zero-carbon priorities. The UK previously had a Green Investment Bank but the Conservatives sold it to an Australian bank in 2017.
Greater use of sustainably harvested wood would be incorporated in infrastructure projects under the Lib Dem government and they are aiming to convert the rail network to electric or hydrogen power by 2035.
The party will invest in renewable energy and remove barriers to the construction of new wind and solar farms.
The Green Party
The green new deal for housing
The green party will create at least 100,000 socially rented homes a year through low carbon construction, retrofitting and converting and extending existing buildings. The new homes will be built to the Passivhaus standard or equivalent.
Housing will use 90% less energy than the average home for space heating under this government.
“To do this would be unprecedented,” said Luke Murphy of think tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research.
“The current government has committed to upgrading 2.5 million homes for those in fuel poverty just to energy rating C, which isn’t the highest rating, and they’re on schedule to deliver that by 2091 rather than 2030, so this is extremely challenging, it’s very ambitious.”
They will fund councils to deliver social housing in their area through sustainable construction, renovation and conversion, and to improve and insulate existing homes.
The local housing allowance will be lifted and reconnected to average area rents to set more affordable rent rates for social housing tenants.
Better insulation will be provided for all homes that need it through major heating upgrades for 1 million homes a year and the creation of 100,000 new energy efficient council homes a year.
Councils will be supported under a green government to better provide housing for disabled people through increasing mobility standards in construction over the next five years.
Electric vehicle charging points will be constructed across the country. They will require construction through the planning system and will encourage the private sector to deliver them.
The Green Party political manifesto supports further expansion and construction of new light rail systems, with the aim of seeing introduction into all towns and cities where there is local support. Any construction must be done in an environmentally sensitive manner.
