Reform UK Will Argue High Net Migration Makes Housing Unaffordable

Former Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe, who now campaigns for Reform UK, has said the party will argue the current levels of net migration makes housing unaffordable, as they seek to link their core resistance to immigration to broader policy areas including the health service and the economy.

Widdecombe joined the Brexit Party in 2019 and stood as an MEP in the European elections. She has remained an advocate for the party as it transitioned and changed its name to Reform UK in January 2021.  

Although she will not be standing as an MP candidate at the election, set for 4 July,  Widdecombe will be on the campaign trail for Reform to help spread its message. She cannot "contemplate" turning 81 and spending another five years in Parliament.

Widdecombe told PoliticsHome she knows what she is talking about when it comes to migration, citing her experience as a former immigration minister in a Conservative government. She claimed if the UK can fix legal and illegal migration, and reduce it to sustainable levels, this will help alleviate some of the pressures in the housing market. 

“We will commit to building more homes, and we will commit to building enough, which is the crucial thing," she said.  “But I think what we have to understand is that if you just look at the immigration figures, we would need to be building a home every two minutes in order to accommodate [new arrivals].”

ONS figures released on Thursday showed net migration had reduced by 10 per cent but was still running at more than 600,000 per year. At the same time the UK only built just over 20,000 homes in the first quarter of 2024.

Would Reform therefore be comfortable for developers to build new homes on green fields and reform the Green Belt?

“There's plenty of