Labour housing policies win strong public support as Tories lag behind

Independent polling gives Labour a big lead when it comes to its approach to housing policy.

Detailed polling by the Ipsos pollster covers 10 questions of housing policy: the results have been included in an article by Ipsos research director Ben Marshall, published on the Redbrickblog website.

First and foremost Labour is now well regarded by homeowners and existing  mortgage borrowers: whereas Labour won an estimated 33 per cent of this demographic in the 2019 General Election, it now secures 47 per cent backing in the Ipsos poll.

“This matters because of the tenure’s voting power; mortgagors were 25 per cent more likely than private renters to turn out to vote in 2019” says Marshall.

Parallel with this, confidence in Conservative housing policy is low - just 18 per cent.

Marshall writes: “Asked which party has the best policies on housing, 40 per cent say Labour, 14 per cent the Conservatives (the party’s largest lead of 11 policy issues).”

The polling also shows strong public support to help renters. Marshall says: “The public are bold on housing and supportive of action – this year we added provisions contained within the Renters Reform Bill to our list of rent caps, taxing second homes, and extending Right to Buy (yes, that) of popular policies. Above all, people want to see evidence of action because they haven’t seen much so far.”

However there is scepticism that things will improve.

Two-thirds of those polled lack confidence that Britain will build enough homes in the future. Most people expect homelessness to get worse and many doubt that a change of government will make things better.

One broad message from the polling is that housing - once regarded as largely unimportant to many voters - is now high on their agenda ahead of the next election.

And across all policies, there is a sustained expectation amongst the public that Laboir will win. 

As Marshall puts it: “[a] poll of polls tracker generates an average share across all published polls and recorded the Conservatives’ share as 26 per cent on 2 January, 25 per cent on 30 November. The equivalent figures for Labour were 47 per cent and 44 per cent. Consistently strong leads in the polls and several stunning by-election results served to bolster the sense that the Labour Party is a government-in-waiting. According to Ipsos, nearly two in three Britons expect Labour to form the next government.”

You can read the whole article here.