People have underestimated me all my life. If you tell me I cannot do something, I will fight like hell to get it done.” Angela Rayner, the reincarnated housing secretary, is thus defiantly sticking to the ambitious target set in the 2024 Labour manifesto to build 1.5 million new homes “over the next parliament”, due to end by 2029.
It is fair to say progress on the building sites is running behind schedule, with only 400,000 or so net new homes built so far. If Ms Rayner really thrives on reverse psychology, as she claims, the country should unite in telling her she’ll never hit her target whenever she appears in public – or even when she’s entertaining friends. It might be exactly the motivation she needs.
