The latest planned change in planning law prompts This Writer to ask: does the Labour Party have a grudge against landowners?

The Labour government intends to expand the use of Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs) that allow public authorities to acquire land without the owner’s consent, crucially axing the “hope value” – the potential value if planning permission for development is secured – to allow land to be bought at a lower price.

In other words, Labour is planning to force landowners to sell their land at a fraction of the price it deserves.

Farmers are up in arms about it, saying the government is trying to make them pay for a housing crisis they did not cause (the Conservative Party caused it by selling off council houses and failing to replace them).

They have pointed out that it is unlikely any housing developer will take a lower profit, so farmers would be the only part of the supply chain to lose out.

Labour’s housing minister Matthew Pennycook has responded by saying he is “mystified” at farmers’ response because the new power is far more likely to be used to buy brownfield sites – previously developed land.

So, rather than victimising farmers, the plan is to victimise all landowners, it seems. And Labour is trying to paint this as a virtue?