The government’s introduction of new planning passports will “turbo-charge housebuilding in our inner cities”, vowed the Prime Minister in his speech today at the Labour Party conference.

Keir Starmer’s speech, which marked the first speech to a Labour conference by a premier in more than 14 years, announced a government promise to help all veterans with housing needs.

Starmer said: “We can make the very same promise to other people at risk of homelessness.”

He also highlighted the progress the new government has made around planning reforms and stopping no-fault evictions since taking charge and noted the party is “only just getting started”.

Yesterday at the conference, Deputy Prime Minister and secretary of state for housing Angela Rayner outlined government plans for homeowners, homebuyers and landlords in her speech.

She said that 14 years of Tory chaos had not just left its mark on people’s jobs, but on homes too.

“Not enough are being built. The Tories failed to meet their targets year, after year, after year. Michael Gove handed back nearly £2bn to the Treasury in unspent housing funds. Mortgages have soared.

“Leaseholders are left at the mercy of eye-watering charges. Renters face crippling rent hikes in damp and mouldy homes. Homelessness is all around us.”

“The simple aspiration of a safe, secure and affordable home is further out of reach than ever and we can’t go on like this. So change must begin at home.”

In July, Rayner announced there would be an “overhaul” of the English planning system in order to deliver the new government’s target of building 1.5 million homes over five years.

Over the last five years the country built around one million homes.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is set to update the National Planning Policy Framework and bring back mandatory targets for house building in England.

The government plans to build up to 370,000 new homes a year. The last Conservative government set a target of building 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s, which it failed to meet.

Labour says building new homes is a key feature to boosting the country’s economic growth.

Yesterday at the conference, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said rented homes will have to meet an energy performance certificate rating of C by 2030.

A target that had been scrapped by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last September, citing cost of living pressures.

While at the weekend, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government issued a consultation paper on ‘brownfield passports,’ which may be issued across UK towns and cities to make sure “the default answer to brownfield development is ‘yes,’” in certain areas.