The UK government looks likely to fall drastically short of its pledge to deliver 1.5 million new homes by 2029, according to the vice leader of Reform UK.
Richard Tice appeared on The Federation of Master Builders’ (FMB) Build Up from the Basement podcast to discuss Reform UK’s plans for the construction sector, if it was to get into power.
He used this as an opportunity to take a swipe at the government’s housing targets, predicting Labour will “miss their target by a factor of 40% plus” and achieve only 800,000 homes instead of the planned 1.5m over the parliamentary term. He partly attributed this to excessive building costs driven by net zero regulations.
He told the podcast: “The cost of energy is destroying the industrial base of this country…energy bills will not come down before the next election due to “green levies, green taxes, and policy costs being bolted on.”
Tice’s views follow recent research carried out by Savills that estimates just 840,000 new homes will be completed in the five years to 2028/29-falling more than 40% below the target, raising questions about the effectiveness of current housing policy.
Tice outlined his vision for helping the industry while tackling the £14.3bn lost to rogue builders, as revealed by the FMB. He endorsed the UK’s biggest construction trade body’s calls for an independent licensing authority, as part of the FMB’s Licence to Build campaign to protect both homeowners and reputable building companies, emphasising it must be “smart, simple, and easy to use.”
He insisted Reform UK was a party that has always put business first, as he told podcast host Iona Stewart-Richardson:
“We’ve always been totally focused on small businesses across all industries and making it easier for small businesses to be able to operate without too much regulation. And the expression I use is look, we all want smart, safe regulation. What nobody wants is daft regulation. That’s a waste of time.”
The FMB reports that 86% of its members support licensing proposals, with 81% of the public also backing the measure, as well as the The House of Commons Energy Security and Net Zero (ESNZ) Committee, which recommended introducing accreditation and mandatory licensing for building companies, particularly those doing energy-efficiency retrofit work, so that all domestic building firms must meet minimum competence and quality standards. A Westminster Hall debate on the issue earlier this month brought MPs from across the house together to discuss the issue and share horror stories from constituents who have lost their life savings to cowboy builders.
Tice, whose background is in property, shared his personal experience of the building sector, adding that too many people are going to university coming out with pointless degrees and debt.
“My very first job was digging trenches for a new building in January 1983 with some fantastic Irish contractors,” he explained. “If you cut me in half – construction and property will ooze out of my veins. The construction industry is fundamental to everything, to our homes, to our schools, to our hospitals. It all happens thanks to the construction industry. I think people underestimate how massive a process it is.”
Additionally, the podcast, which also featured FMB CEO Brian Berry, covered barriers to training apprentices and attracting new talent, with Tice urging stronger incentives for small businesses to take on apprentices he said: “There should be a tax incentive, a tax break to do so. It used to be smooth and easy in the early 80s.”
When probed further about Reform’s housing policies, Mr Tice slammed Net-Zero and outlined proposals aimed at making brownfield sites more accessible to local building companies, simplifying tax codes, reforming off-payroll working rules like IR35 and possibly raising VAT thresholds to reduce administrative burdens.
Berry commented: “I was delighted to welcome Richard to the FMB’s headquarters in London and onto the FMB’s ‘Build Up’ podcast to discuss Reform UK’s plans and policy ideas for small building companies. Richard is clearly very passionate about the building industry and as an organisation we are keen to work with him to help develop policies that will benefit the building industry.”
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