Simon Jenkins rightly criticises Keir Starmer’s notion that the solution to the housing shortage is to create a series of new towns in the manner, presumably, of the 1950s and 1960s (Labour’s supposedly bold ‘new towns’ idea has been tried before. And it failed, 12 October). This announcement was no doubt music to the ears of the construction industry, much as John Prescott’s Pathfinder programme, with its egregious narrative of social cleansing and enforced renewal, was widely perceived as a sop to potential party donors in the building industry.
The Labour party would seem to have forgotten that we are living with a climate crisis, and the most sustainable homes are the ones that already exist in our cities. These should be urgently upgraded and fully insulated, without question. Unfortunately, UK governments have collectively subverted this objective by levying VAT on such improvements in existing residential buildings. This is surely one of the great environmental scandals of our time.
David J Black
Edinburgh
