To think few lives have improved due to Labour’s policies

A combination of disincentives to leave properties empty for extended periods of time (such as second home / unoccupied council tax supplements which we're already seeing), education on the detrimental impact leaving properties empty has, limits on the levels of holiday cottages or second homes which can be had in any one village / town so the levels remain balanced, prioritisation of sales of properties to buyers who intend to reside full-time in the area, provision of alternative holiday accomodation like redeveloping empty hotels and brownfield sites...

Not sure why anyone would jump to "govt seizing property!!!" when there's a tonne of other options out there.

So .. if you don’t take these properties away from people, to reassign them as available housing stock, what would to do to improve the “efficiency” of useage?

Where exactly did I suggest that?

Taking about the inefficiency of our use of our housing stock no more means I think the govt should seize property than I do that divorced families should be forced to reside under the same roof with a grandparent.

You'll put your back out if you reach like that.

Are you suggesting that the Government seizes ownership of Holiday Cottages, second homes, and unrented commercial properties ?

There are lots of new homes, that are well built.. the narrative that they are all cheap and low quality just isn’t true.

You can’t build the Infrastructure until the houses are there … no point building a school, or a GPs in the middle of an uninhabited field.

Full time minimum wage is 23800? Multiply that by 2 is sufficient if you add in child benefit and free nursery and if we had reasonable rents everywhere.

The problem is a lot of people choose to work part time and fathers are not paying for their own kids.
If you keep making these social problems the problems of private sector employers they just won’t do business here or will just stay very small and not expand. That is highly unproductive.
The streets are a mess etc, there is loads of work available to sort out the mess. People not in work should be getting hand outs if they do the work required. An organised country would be putting everyone to work.

The tabloids aren’t SMEs. Look on here even at the impact of Labour’s policies.

You have to stay away from the tabloids and look at the bigger picture, happened to see this, the government are doing loads, since when did the Tories ever do this? Rebuilding takes time.

www.gov.uk/government/news/british-research-expertise-to-deliver-faster-cancer-diagnosis-and-cleaner-energy

The problem is that the housing stock we build at the moment is low quality, cheap shite (to be completely blunt). When new developments are built, they are often outsize to the settlement they're developed in. One village near me, pop. ~600 ish, had a site of 500 houses developed. That's not sustainable growth. These developments also aren't integrated properly and don't come with additional infrastructure like doctors, schools, shops, or other things you might need when you double or triple the population overnight.

We're also unbelievably inefficient at how we use our current housing stock. There are hundreds of thousands of holiday cottages. We've seen a steep fall in intergenerational living and a large rise in families living separately, creating higher demand for housing even though the number of people is the same. There is a severe lack of accessible housing for the elderly and disabled. We have so many properties sitting empty, either because they're holiday or second homes, or because they're bought up as speculative investment by overseas individuals / companies. We don't regenerate brownfield sites properly.

All of the above needs to be addressed before we keep building on farmland, in my opinion. Nothing wrong with building new houses, but the way we do it in this country is completely disordered.

About 8% of land in the UK is built on, that includes public buildings and Infrastructure. There is plenty of space for more housing, but, when did you last see an application go in without a protest?

”solve the housing crisis” whilst at the same but at the same time saying “bit don’t build near me, or, on any land that isn’t currently built on” doesn’t equate.

Not all Green-Belt land is bio-diverse, and great for Wildlife .. head off to some Grouse Moors, and marvel at the almost compete lack of wildlife, and a raging monoculture.

The choice is this, you either keep what we have (had), a low wage, ticking over, economy. Where large numbers of workers are reliant on the government (tax payers) to top up wages, because a minimum wage is not a living wage.

or

You pass responsibility onto employers to pay higher wages, reduce the reliance on government (tax payers) to top up wages. Which leaves workers with more money in their pockets to stimulate an economy, and reduces the reliance on government.

The second option is painful, and takes time but is about long-termism. The first option is less painful, but leaves the economy stagnant.

You can’t raise salaries, and, cut government debt (allowing money to be invested in other parts of the public sector), whilst simultaneous keeping the Status Quo.

I think everything needs to be seen in comparison to what the conservatives ruined and what Reform would make even worse especially for women

Allowing unfettered building on green space is one of the worst things they could have done. We only have so much and once it's gone, it's gone. Do they have no thought about the long term effects?

They don't even care about the displaced wildlife, or protected spaces, or the mental health of those who also benefit from them.

Tbh, apart from all the other crap, things like this stress people out, feeling that nothing is safe or sacred. Living with that ever present threat is horrible.

How will they do that while eroding the private sector?

You can see the impact on here even for business closures and job losses.

Youth unemployment in the UK is now higher than anywhere else in Europe. Do they not have AI pressure too?

I dont recieve benefits. Don't use public transport. Don't have kids. Bills are rising, i live alone. My work has removed a lot of our benefits and no pay rise as their costs have increased and they are trying to save jobs. People are taking on extra work as theres no money to hire. I applied for a promotion which is now on hold because of money. Minimum wage increase will increase cost of everything. Im very worried I won't be able to afford my house soon, the renewals that have come through so far have gone up £10 a month

It's going to take a while to undo years of tory erosion of public services

I knew that Labour weren’t going to be good for me but I didn’t expect it to be quite as bad.

I think we have stopped voting for the party we want to win and now vote against the party we don’t want to win. Hence the rise of Reform.

Exactly this

Starmer is hardly poor is he? And giving the Chagos contract to one of his buddies, who has made millions from it …..isn’t that exactly what you are moaning about?

I own a business and employ people so no, definitely not good for me.

Our business has now got to end, and we will take what we have and run.
This government has been a game changer for us. I just really hope others have benefitted as a result, but hardworking people, not chancers.
I suspect they haven’t.

My daughter is now getting 2 days on nursery for free.

As you absolutely should, but you may just lose the will to live after engaging with the average LA’s legal department. Which I suspect is entirely strategic on their part!

They are shocking round here.
In France where I am from the country is economically fucked but the roads are beautiful, no potholes anywhere and if there is one it is filled immediately.
It's clean too, not rubbish everywhere.
Here I see bins overflowing that councils haven't emptied and overgrown hedges that they haven't cut back.
The country is a mess.

Also, potholes. Sorry but if my car is damaged due to a pothole I will be suing my council and pretty confident I am going to win (if it happens to me).