‘Councils must meet my made-up housing targets’ says Rayner. But why should they try?

Local authority bosses said on Monday that Labour’s targets are based on nonsense, and This Writer agrees – a target worked out on the basis of the current number of houses in an area and how affordable those properties are does not take account of actual housing need, which should be based on employment opportunities and available infrastructure – schools, NHS medical centres, parks and shops.

Has Rayner addressed these issues in her response?

No – she just said the targets are mandatory and councils will be forced to reach them – although the government will provide help where it is needed.

That is not acceptable. Rayner and the government she represents need to be seen to be acting intelligently – and there seems to be no intelligence at all behind this hare-brained housing dream.

Without any rationale to support it, we must conclude that Labour doesn’t have a clue.

And this means that we could be facing huge problems for decades to come – economically, because people will be living far from employment opportunities, and socially, because they will not be able to access the services and leisure activities that make our lives worthwhile.

Having failed to answer these questions, Rayner should face a couple more: what on Earth is she doing in that job? And how can we get rid of her?