Politics latest: Starmer setting himself up for 'enormous fight'

PM defends sandwiches after Badenoch says they're 'not real food'

No, the headline of this post is not a joke. The prime minister has defended sandwiches after the leader of the opposition rubbished them.

In an interview with The Spectator, Kemi Badenoch was asked about her new life leading the Tory party, and she declared "lunch is for wimps".

"I have food brought in, and I work and eat at the same time," she said. "There's no time… Sometimes I will get a steak…"

She went on: "I'm not a sandwich person, I don't think sandwiches are a real food, it's what you have for breakfast."

She also has very particular requirements for the condition of bread, saying: "I will not touch bread if it's moist."

'A great British institution'

Well, the prime minister has taken umbrage with his opposite number's views.

His official spokesperson told journalists this morning that Sir Keir Starmer is "quite happy with a sandwich lunch".

They are a "great British institution", the spokesperson continued, adding that he enjoys a tuna sandwich or a cheese toastie.

Badenoch hits back at Starmer as sandwich row escalates

Kemi Badenoch has hit back at the PM for defending sandwiches after her attack.

The Tory leader said in an interview that sandwiches are "not real food", but the PM's spokesperson responded by saying they are a "great British institution" (more here).

Well, Mrs Badenoch has responded once again, writing on X: "The PM has time to respond to my jokes about lunch…but no time for the farmers who produce our food.

"He refused to answer questions because he doesn't care. It's an ideological attack on farmers and will destroy lives.

"The Conservatives will reverse his cruel Family Farm Tax."

Farming row rolls on

This is in reference to the protest in Westminster yesterday at which farmers expressed their outrage at and opposition to the changes to inheritance tax rules.

Also in her tweet, she re-shared a video that was originally posted on 15 November criticising the tax decision and its impact, describing farming as "a vital part of the British economy".

What land does the PM want to build on?

The prime minister wants 1.5 million new homes built over the next five years and has said the government will step in to overrule local councils who don't help deliver on his plans.

Keir Starmer said "if a local plan does the job, there's no need for any intervention", but should it be needed he's said his priorities are "brownfield first, grey site next, and green belt last".

Brownfield

This refers to land that's been built on already but isn't in use any more.

It could be things like old office blocks and industrial sites.

This is the easiest land to get approval to build new housing on, and is generally welcomed given it doesn't contribute to urban sprawl or encroach upon the environment.

Grey belt

This was touted a lot by Labour during the election as a sort of middle ground between brownfield and green belt.

This could bring things like old golf courses and shopping centres into play, which may technically be in green belt areas but have been built on and are now not in use.

Green belt

This is the term given to land being protected from building.

It's not necessarily just rolling fields and splendour - it could even include land that's already been built on, but local authorities just don't want to expand further. 

It's often around the edges of cities, towns and villages, designed to prevent them from getting bigger.

Housing minister outlines four changes to boost housebuilding

The housing minister, Matthew Pennycook, has just been speaking in the House of Commons about the government's planning reforms in order to build 1.5 million new homes by the next general election.

He told MPs the existing planning system is "faltering on all fronts after a decade of piecemeal and inept tinkering" by the Tories.

The lack of housing supply, he argued, is "hampering economic growth and productivity by reducing labour mobility and undermining the capacity of our great towns and cities to realise their full economic potential".

The four changes

The first key change is mandatory housing targets - scrapped by the Tories - are back, and local authorities will have less freedom to build less than their target.

Secondly, the new planning rules make explicit "the importance of growth-supporting development", such as labs and data centres. They also make approval the default position for renewable energy projects.

Thirdly, mixed-tenure developments - those with various types of property ownership - are "strongly promoted" because they "build out faster" and "create diverse communities".

The fourth change is ensuring more affordable housing can be built, and allowing local authorities to decide "the right mix of affordable housing for their communities".

Keir Starmer has gone to the frontline in his war against NIMBYs today.

The PM has been on a new development to tout his plan to build 1.5 million homes by the next election - that's almost enough to house everyone reading the Politics Hub right now.

In other news, the PM has condemned the "shocking" case of Sara Sherif, who was murdered by her father and stepmother;

An independent child safeguarding review has been launched to determine whether social services could have done more - she was known to them throughout her life and her father had faced previous allegations of abuse.

Starmer's enormous target means having an enormous fight

Keir Starmer has been on a housing development to tout his government's ambition to build 1.5 million more homes by 2029.

Our deputy political editor Sam Coates, who joined the PM at the Cambridgeshire construction site, says it's an "enormous target".

Sam notes "we've never done housebuilding on that scale since the Second World War", and it'll mean "doing things differently".

Chiefly picking fights with those who the Labour leader thinks have obstructed building in the past.

Starmer vs 'the blockers'

That includes councils, who'll be given strict new targets to hit, and regulations too - including nature protections.

Starmer keeps referring to "the blockers" and seems very willing to go to war with them on this issue.

Be in no doubt, says Sam, he's setting himself up for an "enormous fight" over the coming years.

Nonetheless, he and his ministers are pretty honest they "can't be absolutely certain" they'll hit the 1.5 million target.

Sam says it's more about a "signal of the scale of the ambition", and the government will aim to show "substantial progress" by the next election.

PM vows to 'push through' housebuilding if local plans fail

The prime minister has been visiting a building site as he promotes his plan to get 1.5 million new homes built by the next general election, and he spoke to broadcasters while he was there.

Asked if he is comfortable that central government could end up overruling Labour councils to build housing in certain areas, Sir Keir Starmer insisted that development will be "locally led", and "if a local plan does the job, then there's no need for any intervention at all".

"If there is intervention, then there will be brownfield first, grey site next, and green belt last," he added.

Houses 'the top priority' over nature

He was asked next if he will tackle the bigger problem of environmental regulations holding back the development of land, and he said the "starting point is local plans".

"But are we going to push it through if those plans don't work? Yes, we absolutely are," he declared.

On the question of environmental regulations, Sir Keir said: "Of course we want to get the balance right with nature and the environment.

"But, you know, if it comes to a human being wanting to have a house with them and their family, that has to be the top priority."

-SKY NEWS