Theresa May’s government has proposed building “a lot more” houses in rural England to alleviate the country’s mass migration-driven housing crisis, as campaigners warn the green belt is already being torn up for developments at an “alarming rate”.
Questioned in an interview over whether she would support “paving over our green and pleasant land” to build housing, chief secretary to the treasury Liz Truss replied: “I do think we need to open up more land for building, a lot more. There are a lot Nimbys in Britain.”
Speaking on the Financial Times politics podcast, the minister dismissed concerns that concreting over the countryside would alienate the Tories’ natural support base, claiming it was the only way to win the next election.
Only “a dwindling number” of Conservative voters are in favour of preserving the countryside, Truss argued, adding: “People recognise the choice is building on more greenfield sites and making sure there are enough homes or losing the election and ending up with [Labour leader] Jeremy Corbyn.”
Report: Migrants Make up 90 Per Cent New Households over Past Decade
https://t.co/BYpnwNk90y— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) November 15, 2017
Tory MP for Reigate, Crispin Blunt, said tearing up the green belt would result in election “catastrophe” for the party, however, telling the Daily Mail that Conservative councillors were already in danger of being “run out of office” in areas which have seen housebuilding targets raised.
On Monday, the Mail reported a study from the Campaign to Protect Rural England which warned the country’s green belt — land on which the rules say should only be built on in “exceptional circumstances” — is being “gobbled up at an alarming rate”.
Analysis revealed that the equivalent of 400 football pitches of designated green belt was turned into housing in just the last year, while since 2013 local authorities have penciled in plans for nearly half a million (459,000) homes on greenfield in England — Europe’s second most densely populated nation after the tiny island of Malta.
Published Thursday, the paper found that mass migration is the “major component” fueling the heavy demand on housing that has sent rent prices sky-high and made it hard for Britain’s young to save for a house deposit.
As Breitbart London reported in December, the UK’s immigration policy watchdog said young people are “paying the price” for more than a decade of mass migration.
May Laments Housing Crisis… Neglects to Mention ‘Root Cause’ Mass Migration https://t.co/KsrQ5ZESyE
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) March 6, 2018
With a report which revealed that nine in ten new households are headed by migrants, Migration Watch UK said immigration was the “major component” fueling the heavy demand for housing.
Migrant families make up nine out of 10 new households added in the last decade, according to the think tank, which reported that “London is bearing the brunt of ballooning demand for rental properties.”
Britain’s foremost migration policy watchdog last year accused successive governments of misleading the public over the role of mass immigration in the housing crisis, as it published a report revealing migrants headed 90 per cent of new households in England over the past decade.
The Migration Watch UK study found that the “unprecedented” influx of 2.5 million people seen in the last ten years was the “major component” fueling the heavy demand which has priced young people out of the housing market and sent rent costs sky-high.
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