Here’s another Labour lie exposed – this time about housebuilding.

Keir Starmer’s government wants to change the law to make it easier to push through planning applications for large housing estates.

He wants to expand the use of Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs) that allow public authorities to acquire land without the owner’s consent, and to cut out the role of organisations such as nature conservation groups in advising on whether a site is suitable for development.

What a shame he had to lie about the conservationists.

It seems he lied that an entire new town had to be scrapped in Ebbsfleet, Kent, because it would have been built on the habitat of a rare spider – the “distinguished jumping spider”.

When Starmer originally said Labour was “fixing the foundations”, we were led to believe he wanted to repair or strengthen the underlying structures of society – not influence the outcome of planning applications by underhand means.

An Environmental Protection Order was issued, preventing the construction of 1,300 homes – but this did not stop a further 4,000 being built elsewhere in Ebbsfleet, with thousands more planned.

The BBC quoted Jamie Robins, from the charity Bugslife, who said:

“Making false claims about critically endangered jumping spiders stopping ‘an entire new town’ is misleading and incorrect.”

He said it “undermines public confidence in the vital protections and binding commitments that we have for nature and the role of Natural England in helping it to thrive”.

Emma Waller, from Kent Wildlife Trust, said:

“All of the SSSI, including where the 1,300 [homes] were planned, are vital habitats that we simply cannot afford to lose.

“We must move beyond the narrative of ‘nature versus growth.’ Sustainable development, which respects and integrates the natural environment, benefits both people and wildlife.”

A spokesperson for the RSPB added:

“Time and again we’re hearing about places the prime minister is happy to concrete over, yet silence on the habitats that must be protected from development”.

This seems typical of the Labour approach. Last December we learned that

Labour wants targets for new homes to be based on the current number of houses in an area and how affordable those properties are, rather than the number of people expected to be living there in years to come.

The question is, how many people will want to live in a particular area? That will be based on the number of employment opportunities available, and on the availability of infrastructure like schools, NHS medical centres, parks and shops. Oh – it seems nobody in Labour has thought about that either.

It seems increasingly clear that there is no planning behind this housing plan.

It’s all about telling the biggest lie possible and trying to get away with it.