黑洞社区

A review of how government can help the construction sector to prepare for Brexit would be one of the first tasks of the housing delivery watchdog that Labour wants to set up if the party wins next week鈥檚 election

With the Conservatives鈥� poll lead over Labour narrowing when 黑洞社区 went to press earlier this week, the opposition shadow secretary of state for housing, John Healey, has outlined the party鈥檚 response to the 黑洞社区 a Better Brexit campaign in an exclusive open letter to the industry.

He writes that 鈥渙ne of the first tasks鈥� of the Office for Housing Delivery, planned by Labour to monitor the government鈥檚 progress on housebuilding, would be to 鈥渃ommission a review of how government can help ensure the sector prepare for Brexit and plans to thrive beyond鈥�.

Healey adds that an 鈥渆ssential element鈥� of this review is how to deal with the potential post-Brexit skills crisis faced by the construction industry due to its reliance on imported EU labour.

A spokesman for Healey said that the new watchdog would be designed to 鈥渉old ministers鈥� feet to the fire鈥�  in the same way that the Office of Budget Responsibility currently monitors government tax and spending.

In his response to 黑洞社区鈥檚 campaign, Healey also pledges to extend the life of the Help to Buy equity loan scheme for new build housing, and set up a dedicated Department for Housing. He also criticizes the Conservatives for ranking construction as a 鈥渓ow priority鈥� in the upcoming Brexit negotiations.

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron also sent a letter in response to the 黑洞社区 a Better Brexit campaign, warning that what he describes as a 鈥渂lunt, Conservative, hard Brexit, cutting all access to EU workers鈥� would cause the construction industry to shrink by 9%.

The Conservatives did not supply a response to the campaign.