Open letter to the new PM

Ahead of Sir Keir Starmer taking up residence at 10 Downing Street, we have written him an open letter on behalf of the UK demolition and construction sectors.

Dear Keir,

(Please forgive the informality but you have spent the past year telling us you’re a man of the people, and I can never resist a rhyming couplet) Congrats on the new gig.  I hope you’re settling in OK and that the previous resident hasn’t sold off all the furniture.

Now, I realise that you have a lot on your plate right now but I have a few suggestions for you from the demolition and construction industry.  And before you are tempted to consign this note to the pile marked “maybe”, please bear in mind that the sector employs more than 3.1 million people.  That’s 3.1 million VOTERS.  Also, according to the Confederation of British Industry, every £1 spent on construction generates £2.92 to the UK economy.  You might like to keep that in mind when you’re gazing into the black hole in the economy you have inherited.

So, now I have your attention.  You need to appoint a construction minister and a housing minster, and appoint them permanently.  Construction is a key contributor to the nation’s GDP so this should not be seen as a temporary position or a stepping stone to a bigger, sexier role.  If you want to be really progressive, ensure that these minsters have their own PPE.  Nothing shouts Johnny-come-lately like shiny new workbooks and pristine high vis’.

Prior to the election, you pledged to build a million new homes at a rate of around 300,000 per year.  Do it.  Don’t talk about it.  Those in construction have the capability and are standing by.  Just give the order, sort out the senseless hold-ups that plague the planning process and you could go down as the best thing to happen to British housing since the post-war construction boom.

While you’re having a quiet word with those responsible for planning, you might like to remind them that refurbishment is all well and good if you want the nation’s skyline to remain unaltered for all eternity.  But if they want the nation to progress and keep pace with its European and global competitors, the UK NEEDS demolition.  You have to get rid of the old before you can create the new.  As someone who has just fought an entire election on a platform of change, you should know this better than most.

Speaking of change, can we have a word about industry training?  As a money-making scheme, it is doing well.  Very well, in fact.  But as a means of ensuring the competence of demolition and construction workers, it is falling well short of the mark.  The current mix of quangos and commercial companies just isn’t cutting it.

I realise that’s quite a long list and that some of it will take a while.  But here’s a thing you could sort out in an instant.  In fact, when you and Vicky order a takeaway from Uber Eats this evening, keep the phone in your hand and make another call.  Call the head of Thames Valley Police and ask them what the Hell they’re playing at with the Didcot investigation.  Don’t get your new Home Secretary to make the call - In my experience, they are all incapable of operating a phone.  Make the call yourself.

Didcot hung over the UK demolition industry like a dark cloud for more than half the time the Tories were in power.  Messrs Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss and Sunak made a point of ignoring the issue entirely.  If you really are all about change, then make the call while the thought is still fresh in your mind and before you concern yourself with your prawn bhuna and the redecorating.

I am sure you have a lot to be getting on with so just one quick final point.

I know you have only just got your feet under the desk and you probably think you’re in a honeymoon period.  You’re not.  The demolition and construction industry is watching you NOW and we’re taking notes.  We will be referring to those notes the next time a General Election rolls around.  3.1 million voters.  6.4 percent of GDP.  £2.92 to the UK economy for every £1 spent.  Now do your job.

Yours Sincerely