Britain | Plan it and the builders will come

Worries about Britain’s construction crunch are overdone

Stop worrying and learn to love the labour market

A scale model of a future apartment development
Photograph: Getty Images

Sir Keir Starmer has promised to run a government for the builders, not the blockers. Certainly, the prime minister and his colleagues have given the builders a lot to do. Alongside commitments at the election to build 1.5m homes and decarbonise the electricity grid within five years, the government has also revived several megaprojects, including a new rail line connecting Oxford to Cambridge and a third runway at Heathrow.

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This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Plan it and the builders will come”

From the February 8th 2025 edition

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