Where Will Keir Starmer's Builders Come From?
Labour wants to revive the UK by building more houses. But look at the dwindling construction workforce and it’s not at all clear who will do the work.
Tough work.
Photographer: JUSTIN TALLIS/AFPFinding a decent builder can be a challenge, as anyone who’s ever done a home renovation in the UK will know. Popular wisdom suggests this is an industry riddled with unreliable operators who turn up erratically, deliver late and frequently botch the job. Perhaps Keir Starmer knows something the rest of us don’t.
Starmer’s Labour Party, holding a sustained lead in the polls and looking likely to form Britain’s next government, has made a major housebuilding program a central element of its plans for national revival. There’s little doubt the country needs more homes, after years of missed construction targets under the ruling Conservative Party. The big question is: Who’s going to build them?