Help to Buy reboot: Can Labour fix the housing market?

Will a re-imagined version of Help to Buy solve Britain's housing crisis? Dominic O’Connell examines whether government mortgage subsidies can rescue Labour's ambitious homebuilding targets.

In this episode of The Business, we explore "Your First Home" - the government's proposed scheme to resurrect Help to Buy and subsidise mortgages for first-time buyers without the bank of mum and dad. With construction stalling across the UK economy, we ask whether restarting Help to Buy will stimulate homebuilding or simply inflate property prices.

Dominic is joined by Jennie Daly, chief executive of Taylor Wimpey - one of Britain's largest house builders - and Carol Lewis, property editor at The Times. Together, they discuss planning delays, red tape, and how changing government fiscal policy impacts British business confidence. They analyse whether mortgage subsidies and supply chain reform can overcome material costs, unlock land development, and deliver long-term economic growth.

“We have to step back and think: what does housebuilding deliver? It’s a fundamental human right,” Jennie Daly said on the show. “New home building is the only route to increasing the housing stock. So there's a fundamental economic and social case for intervention at times in the economic cycle where house building is particularly in danger of contracting.”

Guests:

Jennie Daly, chief executive of Taylor WimpeyCarol Lewis, property editor at The Times

Presenter:

Dominic O’Connell, Times columnist and Times Radio business correspondent

Producer: Hope Federico

Executive Producer: Miriam Hall and Emily Leahy

Video Producer: Bronwen Latham

Get in touch: thebusiness@thetimes.com