'Just an aspiration - NO POLICY' Andrew Neil ROASTS shadow minister on Labour failings
BBC presenter Andrew Neil blasted Labour’s shadow communities minister as he muddled housebuilding figures ahead of the June General Election.
Shadow minister squirms after fudging housebuilding figures
Jack Dromey was highlighting the party’s commitment to housebuilding when he said a million would be built “a year” instead of in five years.
Neil was quick to pounce on the mistake, putting the shadow minister right.
Speaking on Daily Politics, Neil put it to the MP for Birmingham Erdington that the figures were “just an aspiration” with no “policy”.
Mr Dromey said: “It’s a firm commitment to build a million homes a year and half of those… I beg your pardon, a million over a five-year period.
Shadow minister Jack Dromey stumbled over how many homes Labour would build in a year
No government has done enough to be absolutely frank but our record was so much better
“Half of those annually are homes built by councils and housing associations both to rent and to buy.
“It’s a very welcome commitment because we are in engulfed, Andrew, by the biggest housing crisis in a generation.
“Now, no government has done enough to be absolutely frank but our record was so much better.
“We built 2 million new homes, a million more homeowners, now homeownership is falling for the first time since the 1920s.”
But Neil pulled the shadow minister up on Labour’s housing record when the party was in power.
He said: “Let’s come on to your record. Why should we believe a firm commitment from you to build 200,000 new homes a year when you never succeeded in doing that in the 13 years you were in power?”
Mr Dromey replied because that was what the country “now demands”.
The Labour Party politician and trade unionist previously said Labour would “fight hard” to win the election.
He said many people believed a vote for the Conservative Party would give the party too much power over Brexit and mean the general public “pay the price”.