Boris Johnson woos back supporters with major housing reform

Measures to be introduced to allow poorer people to get mortgages and buy homes to avoid high rents

Boris Johnson delivering a speech at Paddington Station in London last month. At a speech in Lancashire on Thursday afternoon he will announce a raft of measures to get Britain's economy back on track, including housing reforms. REUTERSShow less

Boris Johnson will announce a raft of measures to let poorer people buy houses in a major speech to shore up his weakened authority.

Following the blow of two-fifths of his MPs voting against him in a confidence vote on Monday, the British prime minister is seeking to restore his popularity with plans to revive Britain’s economy

Mr Johnson will on Thursday attempt to appeal to voters by stating that the government can use its “fiscal firepower” to address soaring prices, caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the pandemic.

“We have the tools we need to get on top of rising prices,” he will say. “The global headwinds are strong but our engines are stronger.”

The government is determined to reverse declining home ownership rates, which has seen the proportion of 25 to 34-year-olds who own homes fall from 55 per cent to 34 per cent.

Unable to afford the high cost of buying a home, with the average house price now at £277,000, young people spend huge sums on private rentals rather than a lower amount on a mortgage.

Mr Johnson wants to “unlock the opportunity of home ownership” for more people through helping access to mortgage finance and providing incentives in saving for the deposit needed to purchase a home.

“In recognition that owning a home provides people with sanctuary and security in the most challenging of times, the prime minister will announce new measures that will support more people to get onto the property ladder,” Downing Street said in a statement.

Terraced houses in Blackburn, north west England. The average British house price is now £277,000 putting ownership beyond many families. AFP

It has been suggested that the government will allow people on social benefits to obtain and pay for mortgages with their welfare income as part of moves to get more home ownership.

“While it’s not going to be quick or easy, you can be confident that things will get better,” Mr Johnson will say in the speech made in Lancashire.

A series of pledges to allow the less well-off to weather the cost of living crisis will also be announced so Britain “can emerge from its current challenges with a strong and healthy economy”.

“We will continue to use our fiscal firepower to help the country through tough times – and concentrating our help where we should, on those who need it most,” he will say.

Mr Johnson will promise that in the coming weeks the government will set out reforms to help cut costs in household expenditure “from food to energy, to childcare, to transport and housing”.

The rising costs were blamed on the “inflationary impact” of the Ukraine war as well as dealing with the “Covid aftershocks”.

The speech did not include a mention of a cut to income tax, something that rebel Conservative MPs have demanded as a price for not continuing to seek Mr Johnson’s removal from office.

But the prime minister will hope that the speech will mark a new chapter finally putting aside the Partygate scandal of Downing Street lockdown parties, allowing him to win back credibility and lost popularity.