Philip Hammond in bust-up with Theresa May for not building enough houses on the Green Belt

Philip Hammond in bust-up with Theresa May as he attacks her for not building enough houses on the Green Belt – and tells her to concrete over golf courses in her constituency

  • Row came when Sajid Javid said Government was not creating enough housing 
  • Hammond ‘rolled his eyes’ after PM said houses needed space for a garden
  • Nearly 25,000 acres removed from the Green Belt by local authorities since 2012

Theresa May had a Cabinet bust-up with Philip Hammond after the Chancellor attacked her for not building enough houses on the Green Belt

Theresa May had a Cabinet bust-up with Philip Hammond after the Chancellor attacked her for not building enough houses on the Green Belt – and called on her to concrete over golf courses in her constituency.

The row at Tuesday’s meeting came after Home Secretary Sajid Javid said the Government was not giving the green light to enough new housing and called for more than 300,000 homes to be built every year.

He said: ‘We have to build more houses to stop prices from spiralling out of everyone’s reach.’

The Prime Minister said that new-build houses were ‘not very good quality’ and people needed ‘housing with a bit of space for a garden, like in my constituency’.

At that, Mr Hammond, right, just ‘rolled his eyes’, according to a Cabinet Minister present and said testily: ‘If you want a garden, you need to have more land released for building, if you want it your way.’

Mrs May hit back: ‘We don’t have any more land to release in Maidenhead.’ Mr Hammond then responded: ‘We will have to build on golf courses then, won’t we?’

Mrs May hit back: ‘We don’t have any more land to release in Maidenhead.’ Mr Hammond then responded: ‘We will have to build on golf courses then, won’t we?’

Mrs May hit back: ‘We don’t have any more land to release in Maidenhead.’ Mr Hammond then responded: ‘We will have to build on golf courses then, won’t we?’

Now infuriated, the Prime Minister said that they had already ‘tried’ building on golf courses, adding: ‘I know how often we argue about this, Chancellor.’

The row comes despite a record amount of land being lost from the Green Belt, with almost 25,000 acres removed by local authorities since 2012.

 

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