Speaking to the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham today, Shadow Housing Minister, Grant Shapps, said: (check against delivery):
Ladies and Gentlemen:
What a 12 months it has been; last year as we met in Blackpool the storm clouds of the credit crunch were just gathering....
...the world unaware of the financial hurricane that was about to hit -- with the eye of the storm; housing...
On that stage, the Shadow Chancellor George Osborne showed considerable foresight...
He said... most First Time Buyers shouldn't pay any Stamp Duty at all... and that under a Conservative Government they wouldn't.
Gordon Brown poured scorn on the idea, but after dithering and delay... he finally attempted a u-turn... and got his spin doctors to brief it out to the press...
It appears nobody told Alistair Darling...
So in scenes of political satire, his hapless Chancellor caught unaware sought to "clarify" the situation...
He said, Stamp Duty might...possibly...just maybe... get cut... one day...
A month of chaos and confusion ensued... buyers and sellers hesitated... house sales tumbled... and gazundering soared...
But when the Government finally announced their answer...
... A Stamp Duty Holiday that would help less than one in five homebuyers... and for one year only...
... it was too little, too late...
When I was 21...I set up my own printing company... like every new enterprise it was a struggle...
Constantly worrying whether my business would survive... and, how to afford the rent...
But the most sobering thing... was the responsibility of paying my new staff... so that they could afford to look after their families...
I remember going to the cinema with friends... but my mind was always elsewhere... I was thinking about my overdraft...
And it's the way that millions of hard-working families feel right now... living under a cloud of stress and anxiety...
Whether it's first time buyers struggling to get a foot on the housing ladder...or home-owners worried about paying their mortgages...
... Whether it's one of the record 5 million people stranded on the social housing waiting list...or private renters watching their cost of living spiral...
Of course Gordon promised an end to boom and bust...
But tell that to the millions of struggling families across this country today...
His government failed to listen to what was really going on in people's lives...
His government failed to put anything aside during the good times...
And now -- thanks to his government -- thousands of families are facing repossession...
Brown the bailiff... knocking on their doors...and it's our job to stop him.
Labour likes to claim to be the party of social justice... yet after 11 years, the gap between rich and poor has never been wider...
... social mobility at an all time low...
... people less able to escape poverty...
... a child's life-story written before they're even born....
But a great housing policy can help re-write that story. Break the shackles... provide real opportunity.
We know that giving people the chance to own their home has provided opportunity for millions...
And shared equity schemes are part of that solution...
But this government has blocked access to aspiration... bricked up the door to mobility.
Their Social Homebuy scheme - meant to enable 10,000 to own a stake in their own homes - has helped just 207 families.
Home-ownership is falling for the first time since records began...
1.7million families languish on the council house waiting list.
And last Christmas 130,000 children were homeless - twice that of a decade ago.
Despite Labour's pledges... promises and targets...
... far fewer homes have been built under this Labour administration than during the previous Conservative Government.
And don't ever take lectures from Labour about providing more affordable homes.
Because they've built less social housing in every single year of the last decade... than in any year under John Major or Margaret Thatcher...
You see, Labour just don't understand the need to work with - rather than against - local communities.
...and while they're paralysed by infighting and division... we're getting on with planning for change.
So the next Conservative Government will incentivise development...
Current planning law favours development whilst offering existing communities little in return...
So I want to liberate Section 106 Agreements to provide benefits to those who welcome new development.
And a bigger population means more strain on local services...
So we'll guarantee that when more homes are built... and more council tax is collected... more of that money stays your community.
But this government doesn't understand localism...
That's why Ministers dictate ever more arbitrary targets from Whitehall... attempting to impose centrally-driven solutions... and publishing their 5 year plans...
... It's all reminiscent of radio Moscow during the Soviet Empire... dictating tractor targets to the Ukraine.
By contrast we'll back local communities by supporting Community Land Trusts to create new housing with the benefits locked in for future generations...
We fought successfully to get a legal framework for Community Land Trusts inserted in the recent Housing Bill.
And today I can announce that I am setting up a Working Group of experts... to help develop plans to roll them out in far greater numbers across the country.
The Government is in denial about the state of the housing market but we know that their red tape has exacerbated the situation..
So we'll scrap the useless... expensive... bureaucratic... Home Information Packs to make it easier to sell your own home.
We will keep Energy Performance Certificates... because over a quarter of this country's Co2 emissions come from housing.
... but simply measuring Co2... and having good intentions... isn't going to reduce our domestic carbon footprint.
So why not help companies who take their Corporate Social Responsibility seriously, to make real reductions in Britain's overall emissions.
Under a new scheme, which I can announce today, businesses will be able to improve the energy efficiency of their employees' homes - and have that domestic carbon reduction count against their own output...
Tesco has already thrown their weight behind our Carbon Co-operation Plan...
Saying that "with 280,000 staff the idea could have a big impact in reducing emissions and stimulating a grass-roots revolution in green action."
The Carbon Co-operation Plan will mean that...
Employees will benefit through lower energy bills...
Businesses will benefit by reaching their zero carbon objectives...
And the nation's housing stock - responsible for so much green house pollution - will be permanently improved.
Now -- every MP has met returning servicemen and women who -- having bravely served our country on active duty -- return home to find that they have nowhere to live.
Yesterday Liam Fox outlined how we will strengthen the Military Covenant to ensure that our debt of gratitude is repaid.
Under a Conservative government, Homelessness amongst our returning heroes should be a thing of the past.
And I believe that how we combat homelessness is a mark of a civilised society...
So I was proud to join David Cameron to launch the Conservative Homelessness Foundation in May...
We've teamed up with homeless charities from across the country to work on policies to reduce rough sleeping and homelessness...
It's a complex issue with complicated solutions...
But neither the issue, nor our resolve to tackle it are new...
Most are unaware that back in 1967 it was the then Conservative Shadow Chancellor, Ian MacLeod, who had the vision to set up Crisis -- one of the leading homeless charities which to this day... offers hope to thousands.
And right now, it's Conservatives who are back at the cutting edge of progressive policies.
... Because we have the leadership...
... because we have the ideas...
... because we have the unity...
...and because we have determination...
And with our Plan For Change and your hard work, we have the means to build... a better Britain.