Hope for Housing
Planning reform comes out swinging
According to a popular conspiracy theory, Westminster’s free-market think tanks — and the IEA in particular — have enormous powers to shape national policy. We may masquerade as a bunch of nerds writing wonkish policy papers, but we are really a shadowy network of puppet masters, pulling the strings behind the scenes.
It’s all nonsense, of course.
Or is it?
Let’s take a look at the facts.
In April this year, the IEA released Home Win, a piece of political fiction, in which a hypothetical, unspecified near-future government decides to sort out Britain’s housing crisis, and unleashes an economic boom in the process.
This hypothetical government starts by bringing back binding housing targets to override local NIMBY objections. This week, our new government announced it would do just that.
My fictitious government attacks the sacred cow status of the Green Belt by renaming it “Urban Growth Boundary”, a much less emotionally appealing name, in order to highlight the fact that large parts of it are simply not green. Meanwhile, the actual government has started to refer to the least green bits of the Green Belt as “the Grey Belt”.
In Home Win, the “New Towns Act 2027” allows a dozen new Milton Keyneses – minus the brutalism – to spring up. Our actual Housing Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, has recently announced a New Towns revival.
The main political actor in Home Win, though, is not the new government. It is a cross-party, cross-ideological YIMBY coalition, which suddenly springs to life, and which makes these reforms viable in the face of a NIMBY backlash. This week, we have seen the contours of such a coalition. On housing and planning, and on perhaps economic growth more broadly, the dividing line is not “Labour vs Tory” or “Left vs Right”. It is YIMBY vs NIMBY.
I am, of course, being mildly facetious here. But the emerging “Build, Baby, Build!” YIMBY coalition is real, and I want us to be at the forefront of it.
YIMBYs of all parties, unite! You have nothing to lose but your exorbitant housing costs.
Kristian Niemietz
Editorial Director
Reeves has ‘seriousness of purpose’ - but should go further, say free-marketeers, Director of Public Policy and Communications Matthew Lesh quoted in The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mail, Guido Fawkes, The Yorkshire Times, & Yahoo!
Labour’s Yimby plan could lock the Tories out of power for good, Editorial Director Kristian Niemietz, The Spectator
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IATP at Africa Liberty Forum
Over the past two weeks, International Programs Manager Jack Confrey and Communications Manager Harrison Griffiths have been in Africa promoting the Initiative for African Trade and Prosperity (IATP), an organisation led by the IEA that supports free trade on the continent.
They joined IATP partner CDE Great Lakes in Burundi to support their work in promoting the African Continental Free Trade Area, including meeting with senior figures from Burundian politics and civil society.
They also joined the IATP’s Tanzanian partner Liberty Sparks for UhuruCon, a policy conference for more than 300 students from across the country. Harrison spoke about the importance of private property, while Jack hosted a panel on cross-border trade.
The trip culminated with this week’s Atlas Network Africa Liberty Forum, which brought together almost 200 key figures from across the African freedom movement. Jack and Harrison met with IATP partners from South Sudan, Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Africa for the first time in-person.
As an official sponsor of the event, the IATP was active across the week, hosting a welcome party with more than 100 people and a panel on how to win the fight for free trade.
Over the course of two weeks, the IATP gave out:
5,000 Ideas for a Free Society CDs
600 IEA primers
New tech equipment to enhance our partners’ operational capacity
News, Views & Upcoming Events
Labour's Plan to Revolutionise UK Housing, Executive Director Tom Clougherty, Matthew Lesh, and Britain Remade’s Sam Dumitriu, IEA Podcast
Mark Carney issues grim warning to British families over bills under Labour initiative, Editorial & Research Fellow Len Shackleton quoted in The Express
Labour’s Historic Win: A Victory Shrouded in Electoral Disparity, Communications Officer Reem Ibrahim, FEE
Labour's 'back door' tax plot could see Brits paying more than £63bn on earnings, Executive Director Tom Clougherty quoted in The Express
Should we nationalise water?, Director of Public Policy & Communications Matthew Lesh, BBC Radio 2
The NHS is an international laughing stock, Matthew Lesh, Daily Telegraph
Don’t buy the junk on the sugar tax, IEA Head of Lifestyle Economics Christopher Snowdon, Cap X
Let’s be honest, Britain needs change more than stability, Matthew Lesh, City AM
Join the next Economic Affairs research workshop in Madrid this December, giving the unique opportunity for scholars to discuss the process of writing and publishing papers in academic journals.
Location: Universidad Francisco Marroquín, Madrid, Calle de Arturo Soria, 245, 28033 Madrid, Spain.
Date: December 13-14, 2024
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