Angela Rayner’s plans to build new homes were slapped down by Chris Philp during a clash in the Commons. The Deputy Prime Minister and the Shadow Home Secretary stood in for their respective party leaders for the weekly Commons clash on Wednesday.
Ms Rayner branded Mr Philp “Johnny Come Lately” as he pressed her on immigration during Prime Minister’s Qustions. But Mr Philp said: “Goodness me, she’s got a cheek. Housing starts in quarter four last year went down, her mission to rebuild Britain is not going very well.”
The number of homes built in the UK over the last three months of 2024 reached 31,770, up 32% from a year ago but 14% lower than the previous quarter.
He went on to raise the case of a “Zimbabwean paedophile due for deportation” who was “recently allowed to stay in the UK because a court found he might face, quote, ‘some hostility back in Zimbabwe’”.
He continued: “What about the rights of children here to be protected from this dangerous paedophile? Who is looking out for their rights? Not the Government. There are thousands of cases like this involving foreign criminals. So there is a solution, we need to scrap the Human Rights Act for immigration matters, so this sovereign Parliament decides on the law our courts apply, but her party voted against that.
“So I have a simple question, why did the Government side with foreign criminals and not the British public?”
In her response, Ms Rayner said 4,500 foreign national offenders have been deported since Labour came into power, adding: “I take no lectures from the Johnny Come Lately, who couldn’t do anything when he was in office.”
Labour has pledged to build 1.5 million new homes by the end of this Parliament.
Ms Rayner, who is also the Housing Secretary, is trying to fix the issue of millions of people being unable to afford to buy their first home.
She also wants to clear the backlog of people living in unsuitable accommodation.