Liz Truss: I’ll put an end to ‘Stalinist’ housing targets

Liz Truss has pledged to scrap “Whitehall-inspired Stalinist housing targets”, saying she would do away with “Labour approaches” in favour of tax cuts and deregulation to encourage firms to build new homes.

In an interview with The Telegraph, the Foreign Secretary declared that she would deliver “the biggest change in our economic policy for 30 years” to tackle decades of low growth and rising inflation.

The intervention comes as she battles Kemi Badenoch, the former equalities minister, for support from the Right of the Conservative parliamentary party.

Ms Truss has told allies that Mrs Badenoch would be offered a prominent role in her Cabinet if she won the leadership contest.

Speaking to The Telegraph, the Foreign Secretary would only say that her rivals were “incredibly talented politicians” and that she was a believer in “having all the players on the pitch”.

She said: “I want to abolish the top down Whitehall inspired Stalinist housing targets. I think that’s the wrong way to generate economic growth.

“The best way to generate economic growth is bottom up by creating those incentives for investment through the tax system, simplifying regulations.”

Meanwhile, Ms Truss suggested she would lift the fracking ban to allow shale gas to be extracted using the controversial hydraulic fracturing method in areas where there was local support.

She said: “On the subject of fracking, I think it depends on the local area, and whether there is support in the local area for it. But I certainly think we need to be doing all we can to lower the cost of energy for consumers.”

The former chief secretary to the Treasury also warned that business rates “hamper growth” and said she would “look again” at the Bank of England’s mandate “to make sure it is tough enough on inflation”. She voiced fears that inflation has been worsened by excessive money supply.

Signalling a radical change in the Treasury’s approach to the Bank of England, Ms Truss added: “I would also have a very clear direction of travel on monetary policy.”

Ms Truss said she would amend the Levelling Up Bill to replace centralised targets with tax cuts and reduced red tape in “opportunity zones” to make it easier and quicker for developers to build on brownfield land in those areas. 

As prime minister, she said she would cut red tape “to get our economy moving”.