Boris Johnson urges Michael Gove to keep up the momentum in raising the level of Britain

Michael Gove called Boris Johnson's goal of building 300,000 homes a year «recommendatory» rather than mandatory. Photo: Andrew Parsons

Boris Johnson urged the government to «urgently» accelerate planning reform to build more homes to challenge Michael Gove.

The former Prime Minister urged the Minister of Housing and Upgrading to accelerate progress on a number of issues. a policy he first unveiled during his time at Downing Street.

The government dropped the key planks of its planning reforms last year, abandoning mandatory local housing targets in the face of Conservative supporters. rebellion.

The goal of building 300,000 new homes a year, which was included in the 2019 Conservative manifesto, has since been called «recommendatory» rather than «mandatory» by Mr. Gove.

< p>Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr Johnson told him: “Given that the UK is one of the most regionally imbalanced of all the major economies, and given the enormous potential that lies ahead, is it not time to speed up the process of equalization? Bill now stalled and urgently move forward with Northern Powerhouse Rail planning for reform, devolution, reliable affordable supply, gigabit broadband and all the other level up measures that will make this the strongest and most prosperous economy in Europe?»Michael Gove's 12 promises by 2030.

Thanking him for his «leadership on this issue,» Mr Gove replied: «The white paper on leveling up would not have been published without his determination to ensure that government has 12 clear targets at the heart of . that will allow this country to realize its full potential.

«I found it interesting that the Leader of the Opposition — as he is now and will remain for a long time — decided that the way he could win over this country was to have five missions.

< p>«As always , he had no such scope of ambition and vision as my honorable friend when it came to making this country great.»

Mr Johnson, who made his first intervention in the House of Commons with since calling last month for Ukraine to join NATO has added pressure on Mr. Gove and Rishi Sunak to implement a number of flagship schemes he launched while in 10th place. .

1605 Housing Index

On becoming prime minister, he promised to do to Northern Powerhouse Rail «what we did to Crossrail in London» by connecting Manchester and Leeds directly via train, only to scale plans back in 2021. amid growing pressure on public finances.

Standing on the steps of Downing Street the day after the last general election, Mr Johnson vowed to «unite and elevate» the country and dedicated himself to «unleashing the potential of the whole country by enabling the whole country.»

Two years he later renamed the former Department of Housing the Department of Equalization, Housing and Communities, rolling out a £4.8bn equalization fund designed to help communities that have traditionally not benefited as much from central government funding and national economic growth .

Mr Johnson also pledged to provide the entire UK with fiber-optic broadband by 2025, but that will be reduced to 85% of the country next year.

Race to keep the Red Wall

North and Midlands districts in the so-called Red Wall , who traditionally supported Labor but were defeated by Mr Johnson, were seen as the key to a landslide Tory victory.

However, the Redfield & Wilton's strategies last week showed Labor leading those constituencies by 17 percentage points, and a separate poll showed Sir Keir Starmer's party could reclaim all of the Red Wall seats that turned blue in 2019.

He wrote to executives local authorities were later found to have repeatedly failed to meet targets for decisions on planning applications.