Housebuilding: Michael Gove and Rishi Sunak pledge to see off rebellions and increase number of homes
Michael Gove and Rishi Sunak have pledged to see off Conservative rebellions over housebuilding as they lay out their plans to increase homes in the UK.
Mr Gove, the housing secretary, was delivering a speech on his plans to increase the number of homes being built in the UK, with the government having previously missed its target to put up 300,000 annually.
Among the proposals are plans to ease the development of shops and takeaways into domestic properties, and a focus on developing brownfield sites – with Cambridge being singled out as an area where a “super squad” of planners will work on major housing developments.
Politics latest: Bereaved mum hits out at Starmer
Housing Secretary Michael Gove laid out his latest plans for housebuilding
Even before Mr Gove’s speech started, backbench Conservative MPs voiced their concerns over the plans.
Anthony Browne, the Conservative MP for South Cambridgeshire, said: “I will do everything I can to stop the government’s nonsense plans to impose mass housebuilding on Cambridge, where all major developments are now blocked by the Environment Agency because we have quite literally run out of water.
“Our streams, rivers and ponds already run dry.”
Asked about the comments, Mr Gove remained determined in his goal: “It will be the case that I’m sure that Conservative backbenchers and others once they have a chance to look at our plans will realise that this is in the national interest and that’s why we’re acting.”
The prime minister, asked about the comments from Mr Browne, said: “No one is doing mass house building in Cambridge, this is about adding a new urban quarter to Cambridge, which is something that local communities have spoken about.
“And of course that will be done in dialogue with local communities.
Read more:
Gove waters down house building target after Tory MP backlash
Labour will build on green belt to boost housing, Starmer says
2021: Conservatives lose Chesham and Amersham
Govt walking election tightrope to build houses and please MPs
Michael Gove today said the government was unapologetically focussing home building on cities because that was the right thing to do “economically, environmentally and culturally”.
What he could have added to that list is that an emphasis on urban areas also makes sense politically for this Tory administration.
The housing secretary is walking a line between trying to increase levels of development while also not petrifying voters and MPs in leafy parts of the country traditionally held by his party.
Just look at the response from South Cambridgeshire MP Anthony Browne to plans laid out for his region – “I will do everything I can to stop the government’s nonsense plans to impose mass housebuilding”, he tweeted.
Why the frosty reception?
Well, Mr Browne has the Liberal Democrats snapping at his heels and is no doubt mindful of the Tory by-election result in the suburban seat of Chesham and Amersham, where a thumping loss was widely put down to local concern about planning and homebuilding.
The practical problem is there’s real doubt as to whether an adequate new housing supply can be provided by just using urban brownfield sites.
The Home Builders Federation said it was “manifestly not possible” and called for the reintroduction of mandatory targets for local authorities and the cutting of environmental red tape they say is holding up the construction of 145,000 new dwellings.
The government says it wants new properties built in the right places. The concern of many is this really means as far away as possible from homeowning Tory voters.
“But I think it is really important to bring local communities along with you, we have housing targets, they are set by local communities and their locally elected representatives, that’s the right thing.
“What central government sitting in Whitehall and Westminster shouldn’t do is ride roughshod over those views, impose top-down targets, carpet over the countryside, I don’t want to do that.”
Conservative MP and Truss-era housing secretary Simon Clarke welcomed Mr Gove’s announcement – but said they “will take serious hard work to deliver” and his party will need to defeat “NIMBYism or NIMBYism will assuredly defeat us”.
NIMBY stands for “not in my backyard”, and is a name for people who oppose housebuilding and development close to them.
Mr Gove also denied his party had watered down its target to build 300,000 new homes a year.
Last year, the government intended to introduce a legal change to make the target a legal requirement.
However, they abandoned the plans after 60 backbenchers signed an amendment which would have scrapped the target.
Mr Gove said the 300,000 target is one the government is “building towards”, adding that inflation was making “delivering against that target more difficult”.
And the prime minister said they are “making good progress towards it.
In 2021/22, some 233,000 homes were completed.
The social housing waiting list is currently at around 1.2 million households.
Shadow housing secretary Lisa Nandy said: “It takes some serious brass neck for the Tories to make yet more promises on housing when the housing crisis has gone from bad to worse on their watch, and when housebuilding is on course to hit its lowest level since the Second World War.
“There are now 800,000 fewer homeowners under 45 than in 2010.
“One of their own ministers says they’ll miss their 300,000 homes a year target “by a country mile”.
“And housebuilding is falling off a cliff because Rishi Sunak rolled over to his own MPs last year.
Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts
“The Home Builders Federation says today’s plans “do little to address the major reasons why housing supply is falling” and “much more decisive action is needed”.
“Over 200 small housebuilders recently said the government’s “current and proposed policies are devastating our industry”.
Politics
Laws may need to be bolstered to crack down on exploitation of child ‘influencers’, senior MP suggests
Laws may need to be strengthened to crack down on the exploitation of child “influencers”, a senior Labour MP has warned.
Chi Onwurah, chair of the science, technology and innovation committee, said parts of the Online Safety Act – passed in October 2023 – may already be “obsolete or inadequate”.
Politics latest: Follow live updates
Experts have raised concerns that there is a lack of provision in industry laws for children who earn money through brand collaborations on social media when compared to child actors and models.
This has led to some children advertising in their underwear on social media, one expert has claimed.
Those working in more traditional entertainment fields are safeguarded by performance laws, which strictly govern the hours a minor can work, the money they earn and who they are accompanied by.
The Child Influencer Project, which has curated the world’s first industry guidelines for the group, has warned of a “large gap in UK law” which is not sufficiently filled by new online safety legislation.
Official portrait of Chi Onwurah.
Pic: UK Parlimeant
The group’s research found that child influencers could be exposed to as many as 20 different risks of harm, including to dignity, identity, family life, education, and their health and safety.
Ms Onwurah told Sky News there needs to be a “much clearer understanding of the nature of child influencers ‘work’ and the legal and regulatory framework around it”.
She said: “The safety and welfare of children are at the heart of the Online Safety Act and rightly so.
“However, as we know in a number of areas the act may already be obsolete or inadequate due to the lack of foresight and rigour of the last government.”
Victoria Collins, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for science, innovation and technology, agreed that regulations “need to keep pace with the times”, with child influencers on social media “protected in the same way” as child actors or models.
“Liberal Democrats would welcome steps to strengthen the Online Safety Act on this front,” she added.
‘Something has to be done’
MPs warned in 2022 that the government should “urgently address the gap in UK child labour and performance regulation that is leaving child influencers without protection”.
They asked for new laws on working hours and conditions, a mandate for the protection of the child’s earnings, a right to erasure and to bring child labour arrangements under the oversight of local authorities.
However, Dr Francis Rees, the principal investigator for the Child Influencer Project, told Sky News that even after the implementation of the Online Safety Act, “there’s still a lot wanting”.
“Something has to be done to make brands more aware of their own duty of care towards kids in this arena,” she said.
Dr Rees added that achieving performances from children on social media “can involve extremely coercive and disruptive practices”.
“We simply have to do more to protect these children who have very little say or understanding of what is really happening. Most are left without a voice and without a choice.”
Read more from Sky News:
Four killed as cable car crashes to ground near Naples
Two dead and five injured in shooting at Florida university
The researcher pointed to one particular instance, in which children were advertising an underwear brand on social media.
She said: “The kids in the company’s own marketing material or their own media campaigns are either pulling up the band of the underwear underneath their clothing, or they’re holding the underwear up while they’re fully clothed.
“But whenever you look at any of the sponsored content produced by families with children – mum, dad, and child are in their underwear.”
Dr Rees said it is “night and day” in terms of how companies are behaving when they have responsibility for the material, versus “the lack of responsibility once they hand it over to parents with kids”.
One of Arizona’s crypto reserve bills has been passed by the House and is now one successful vote away from heading to the governor’s desk for official approval.
Arizona’s Strategic Digital Assets Reserve Bill (SB 1373) was approved on April 17 by the House Committee of the Whole, which involves 60 House members weighing in on the bill before a third and final reading and a full floor vote.
SB 1373 seeks to establish a Digital Assets Strategic Reserve Fund made up of digital assets seized through criminal proceedings to be managed by the state’s treasurer.
Arizona’s treasurer would be permitted to invest up to 10% of the fund’s total monies in any fiscal year in digital assets. The treasurer would also be able to loan the fund’s assets in order to increase returns, provided it doesn’t increase financial risks.
However, a Senate-approved SB 1373 may be set back by Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, who recently pledged to veto all bills until the legislature passes a bill for disability funding.
Hobbs also has a history of vetoing bills before the House and has vetoed 15 bills sent to her desk this week alone.
Arizona is the new leader in the state Bitcoin reserve race
SB 1373 has been passing through Arizona’s legislature alongside the Arizona Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act (SB 1025), which only includes Bitcoin (BTC).
The bill proposes allowing Arizona’s treasury and state retirement system to invest up to 10% of the available funds into Bitcoin.
SB 1025 also passed Arizona’s House Committee of the Whole on April 1 and is awaiting a full floor vote.
Related: Binance helps countries with Bitcoin reserves, crypto policies, says CEO
Utah passed Bitcoin legislation on March 7 but scrapped the cornerstone provision establishing the Bitcoin reserve in the final reading.
The Texas Senate passed a Bitcoin reserve bill on March 6, while a similar bill recently passed through New Hampshire’s House.
Magazine: Crypto ‘more taboo than OnlyFans,’ says Violetta Zironi, who sold song for 1 BTC
Slovenia’s Finance Ministry is considering a possible 25% tax on crypto trading profits for residents in the country under a new draft law now open for public consultation.
The bill proposes to tax traders when they sell their cryptocurrency for fiat or pay for goods and services, but crypto-to-crypto and transfers between wallets owned by the same user will be exempt, Slovenia’s Finance Ministry said in an April 17 statement.
Under the proposed legislation, crypto tax will be aligned with existing tax laws. Slovenia taxpayers will be required to keep a record of all their transactions for annual tax returns. The tax base would be calculated on profits by subtracting the purchase price from the sale price.
In a statement to the Slovenia Times, finance minister Klemen Boštjančič said it’s unreasonable that crypto trading for individuals isn’t currently taxed in the country.
“The goal of taxation of crypto assets is not to generate tax revenue, but we find it illogical and unreasonable that one of the most speculative financial instruments is not taxed at all,” he said in a statement translated from Slovenian.
New tax could stifle crypto in Slovenia, lawmaker says
Jernej Vrtovec, a member of Slovenia’s national assembly and New Slovenia opposition party, slammed the proposal in an April 16 statement to X, arguing it could stifle crypto growth in the country.
“Slovenia has the opportunity to become a crypto-friendly country, but with the government’s proposals, we will miss the train again,” he said in a post also translated from Slovenian.
“With excessive taxation, we will once again see young people and capital fleeing abroad. Taxes should encourage, not stifle.”
The proposal is open to public consultation until May 5. If Slovenian lawmakers pass the bill, it will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2026.
Slovenia introduced a 10% tax on crypto withdrawals and payments in 2023, but capital gains from occasional crypto trading are not taxed, according to the crypto tax platform Token Tax.
Related: NFT trader faces prison for $13M tax fraud on CryptoPunk profits
Crypto activity can also currently be exempt from tax if it’s considered a hobby. Business activity, such as mining or staking, is subject to income tax.
A previous bill proposed in April 2022 planned to levy a 5% tax on profits over 10,000 euros ($11,372), but it was never passed into law.
Slovenia issued the first digital sovereign bond in the European Union on July 25 last year. It had a nominal size of 30 million euros ($32.5 million) with a 3.65% coupon and a maturity date of Nov. 25 that year.
The number of crypto users in Slovenia is projected to reach roughly 98,000 in 2025, according to online data platform Statista, with a penetration rate of 4.6% among its population of 2.12 million people. While the projected revenue for the country’s crypto market is slated to hit $2.8 million.
Magazine: How crypto laws are changing across the world in 2025
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway