The European Commission is unfit to dictate housing policies of an elected parliament

I read with horror recently that the European Commission now feels it’s qualified to advise the Chancellor of the Exchequer on British housing policy.

James Staunton
17th June 2014
James Staunton -  Wriglesworth

The fact that it pronounced that Britain “continues to experience macroeconomic imbalances which require monitoring and policy action” at the very least suggests its members have no sense of irony.  And it surely confirms that Brussels should be left to concentrate on the chaos of the eurozone. 

It’s great news for the UK Independence Party, of course.  Nigel Farage and the rest of UKIP must be rubbing their hands with glee at the extra votes they will get that the unelected Commission is giving our elected Government advice on how to run our country.

But on reflection, I’m not entirely sure any of our politicians could do a better job.  Because all of our political parties are failing to address the housing market’s fundamental problem – supply.  To my mind, Help to Buy is given an unfair write-up – but it’s difficult to escape the view that, at its heart, it’s about cynical electioneering.  Labour policies that look to control rents, to increase the security of tenure, and to eliminate agents’ fees for finding houses for renters would, if they have an effect at all, modestly decrease rental supply.

Looking for some truly radical policies, I turned to the Green Party for answers.  But when I read that one of their aims was to establish favourable, flexible planning consent with regards to non-load bearing structures of transitory nature – such as tents, tipis, and yurts – I felt tempted to let our continental cousins crack on.

As Professor Paul Cheshire argues in his new book, “Urban Economics and Urban Policy: Challenging Conventional Policy Wisdom”, the UK needs radical reform of our planning laws – including, sadly, the loosening of restrictions on Greenbelt building – to improve supply and affordability.  The rest is window-dressing.

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