Watch the moment Tory Chairman Kevin Hollinrake is shut down by GB News host Alex Armstrong in a fiery row over the party’s housebuilding record.
Reacting to the plans announced by Reform UK and Labour for social housing, Mr Hollinrake pointed to the Tories building a “record number” of homes during their 14 years in power.
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The Tory chairman said of the plans: “Both of those announcements rely on borrowing more money, that’s the reality. We don’t know exactly how Andy Burnham is going to fund his social housing programme yet, but it’s going to be more tax and more spending.
“But Reform’s plans quite clearly set out it will be more borrowing, that’s a reality, or indeed forcing pension funds to invest in social housing when actually pension funds have a difficult job trying to provide good returns for their pension fund members.
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“We’re all in favour of building more homes, we built a 50-year record numbers of homes whilst in power, including affordable homes.”
Alex then interjected Mr Hollinrake, hitting back: “Come on, come on. There’s many things I can forgive the Conservative Party for, I do hear you saying you’re changing, but come on, you did not build nearly enough homes.
“10 million people over the course of 10 years or so, somewhere in that ballpark, and you built a few million. That was nowhere near enough homes!”
The Tory Chairman dismissed Alex’s argument, responding: “Alex, you can choose your own opinions, but you can’t choose your own facts. Net new additions for homes during our period in office were the highest in 50 years.
“That is a record, higher even since the 1970s. Please, you check your facts, those facts are all set out.”
Alex then told Mr Hollinrake: “The spin on that may be the way you want to spin it, and I’m sure it was the most in that period of time, but it wasn’t enough for the amount of people coming into the country was it?”
Mr Hollinrake then hit back: “It’s not a spin, it’s the truth, it’s facts. I didn’t say we built enough, I said we built the most homes in 50 years.
“So please, I’m sure you’ll admit you’re the one who’s in the wrong, not me.”
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Reform UK unveiled fresh plans on Monday to overhaul the social housing system in the UK by prioritising British-born youth over foreign nationals and asylum seekers.
Under the plans, British-born workers under 35 will be put “at the front of the queue”, with priority given to married couples with children in a bid to ease the difficulties of getting on the housing ladder.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Deputy Leader Richard Tice said: “We’ve ended up with a desperate shortage of affordable housing, council housing, and it’s got worse and worse.
“Our ambition is to stop the rot. We need to turn it around. And so from a construction point of view, a Reform Government will build an extra 50,000 affordable social homes every year for a decade.
“That is more than has been achieved for decades. Not only do we know it’s the right thing to do, but it’s also the fair thing to do. But it’s absolutely essential.”
Defending the plan on GB News, Reform Chairman Lee Anderson argued that social housing should be a “privilege and a reward for hard work, being a decent citizen and doing the right thing”.
He said: “We’re going to prioritise young British workers, and if they look after their house and they contribute towards society and they go to work, after five years, they will be eligible through the Right to Buy scheme to buy their house at a discount.
“We think that’s the right thing for young British workers to get a foot on the housing ladder.”
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