New figures out of the UK are raising questions yet again about housing and immigration policy under Prime Minister Keir Starmer, after data showed nearly half of the homes built since Labour took office have effectively been absorbed by net migration.
Since Labour entered government in 2024, net migration has added an estimated 312,606 people to the UK population, according to GB News. The figures show that demand tied to those arrivals accounted for pressure on roughly 130,166 homes, around 47 percent of the homes constructed during that period.
Net migration reportedly reached 331,000 in the year ending December 2024 before later dropping to 171,000 the following year.
Conservative MP Katie Lam criticized the government’s approach to both immigration and housebuilding, saying younger Britons are being squeezed out of the housing market.
“The combination of low supply, because of restrictions on housebuilding, and high demand, driven mostly by immigration, has left a whole generation locked out of home ownership,” Lam told The Daily Express. “They've not made it any easier to get houses built, and they've failed to implement the kind of limited, selective immigration system that the British people have voted for, time and time again.”
Lam also said Labour had made “both problems worse". Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp also attacked the government over the figures. “This is what uncontrolled immigration looks like,” Philp said. "Nearly half of all homes Labour delivers vanish before a British family gets a look in."
“Labour have failed on both housing and immigration," he added.
Philp pointed to Conservative proposals that would include leaving the European Convention on Human Rights, deporting illegal immigrants within a week of arrival, and ending immigration appeals. He also said the party would scrap Stamp Duty and loosen housing supply restrictions.
Migration Watch UK chairman Alp Mehmet said the numbers demonstrated that “migration on this scale will add huge pressure on the existing housing stock.”
"If the Government wants to ease pressure on housing it should begin by controlling, then reducing, immigration,” he added. A Labor Party spokesman pushed back and blamed the previous Conservative government for rising migration levels and the housing shortage. “Their brass neck is off the charts,” the spokesman said. "The Tories failed, but Labour is delivering."
Since Labour entered government in 2024, net migration has added an estimated 312,606 people to the UK population, according to GB News. The figures show that demand tied to those arrivals accounted for pressure on roughly 130,166 homes, around 47 percent of the homes constructed during that period.
Net migration reportedly reached 331,000 in the year ending December 2024 before later dropping to 171,000 the following year.
Conservative MP Katie Lam criticized the government’s approach to both immigration and housebuilding, saying younger Britons are being squeezed out of the housing market.
“The combination of low supply, because of restrictions on housebuilding, and high demand, driven mostly by immigration, has left a whole generation locked out of home ownership,” Lam told The Daily Express. “They've not made it any easier to get houses built, and they've failed to implement the kind of limited, selective immigration system that the British people have voted for, time and time again.”
Lam also said Labour had made “both problems worse". Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp also attacked the government over the figures. “This is what uncontrolled immigration looks like,” Philp said. "Nearly half of all homes Labour delivers vanish before a British family gets a look in."
“Labour have failed on both housing and immigration," he added.
Philp pointed to Conservative proposals that would include leaving the European Convention on Human Rights, deporting illegal immigrants within a week of arrival, and ending immigration appeals. He also said the party would scrap Stamp Duty and loosen housing supply restrictions.
Migration Watch UK chairman Alp Mehmet said the numbers demonstrated that “migration on this scale will add huge pressure on the existing housing stock.”
"If the Government wants to ease pressure on housing it should begin by controlling, then reducing, immigration,” he added. A Labor Party spokesman pushed back and blamed the previous Conservative government for rising migration levels and the housing shortage. “Their brass neck is off the charts,” the spokesman said. "The Tories failed, but Labour is delivering."
