THE Prime Minister must up his social housing offer if he is to win over traditional Labour Leave voters, says a new poll.
Undecided electors and Labour Leavers said housing was the second most important local issue after the NHS.
Prime Minister must up his social housing offer if he is to win over traditional Labour Leave voters
Undecided voters and ‘Labour Leavers’ said housing was the second most important local issue after the NHS
The poll by the National Housing Federation shows that voters in Labour heartlands say housing matters more than crime.
Crucially 65 per cent of the Labour Leavers would support the next government if it invested billions in social housing.
Boris Johnson said he would try to change Treasury rules so public bodies get bigger benefits if they release unused land for homes.
He said: One of the things youll remember when I was Mayor [of London] was the frustration of having all these pockets of land everywhere, whether owned by Network Rail, the NHS, the MOD.
They are not allowed to make as good use of them as they might by the Treasury rules.
Kate Henderson, Chief Executive of the National Housing Federation, said housing policy could swing the election with less than a week to go.
She said: The housing crisis is a national scandal it affects millions of people from all generations and across the country every day, and voters are getting sick of it. This polling shows that swing voters in particular feel that its a major issue.
Undecided voters want the next government to solve the housing crisis, and they support investment in social housing as the way to do it.
This is especially true for Labour Leavers the people who backed Leave in 2016 and Labour in 2017, but now dont know who to vote for in this election who are a key part of the Conservatives electoral strategy.
There are votes to be won by all politicians who do what needs to be done, and commit to investing in building new social housing. This is what we need to fix the housing crisis for good.
