Introduction

It would be rather surprising if the Labour government of Prime Minister Blair were not pursing policies that were significantly different from those being pursued by the last Labour government. The Labour Party was out of office for 18 years and there were important social and economic developments in the intervening period. To some extent, policies have to change with the times, no matter who is in government. However, times have changed, not least because of the actions of the Conservative governments while Labour was in opposition.

During the decade following the 1979 General Election, the Conservative governments of Mrs Thatcher transformed the political economy and the public culture in Britain (Marquand, 1998a). Whereas some areas of the welfare state demonstrated considerable resilience in the face of what Marquand has aptly described as ‘the Thatcher Blitzkrieg’, housing experienced major change. Housing provision and, even more, housing policy and debates were substantially transformed under the Conservatives. Any government coming back to power after 18 years in opposition, whether it was New or Old Labour, would have to ensure that its agenda responded to such fundamental changes.

Mrs Thatcher's first government rushed in to legislate for changes in housing policy that it knew it wanted to implement. New Labour instead opted for a series of Comprehensive Spending Reviews (CSRs), including one for housing, which inevitably delayed the point at which major new changes would be introduced. The outcomes of the CSRs are only now becoming apparent and many important issues have yet to be decided. As a result, this chapter can only provide a provisional survey of housing policy under New Labour. The chapter begins by briefly reviewing the post-war development of housing policy prior to 1979, the year when the Callaghan Labour government left office, in order to explain the Conservative inheritance. The next section presents a brief overview of the main features of housing policy under the Conservative governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major. The chapter then outlines the housing situation inherited by the New Labour government when it returned to office in 1997. Subsequent sections examine New Labour's housing policy aims and the outcome of the CSR for housing policy.