<p><span>Housebuilding has “collapsed” under the Conservative government with the prime minister “crumbling” to backbenchers, Labour leader Keir Starmer told Rishi Sunak yesterday (June 28).</span></p> <p><span>At the latest Prime Minister’s Questions, Starmer and the PM clashed on their approaches to housebuilding. The Labour leader accused his opposite of a contradictory stance: “One minute he says he’s for building new houses; the next he’s campaigning against them.”</span></p> <p><span>The PM’s actions were responsible for lower housing numbers, Starmer indicated. “The truth is, far from delivering, since he crumbled to his backbenchers <span>and scrapped mandatory targets</span>, housebuilding has collapsed.”</span></p> <p><span>The government’s housebuilding target of 300,000 homes per year, the Labour leader said, had slipped away. “Why doesn’t he just admit, he’s not going to get anywhere near his target, is he?”</span></p> <p><span>In response, Sunak said Starmer claimed his support for housebuilding, “especially on the greenbelt”, but a number of his ministers seemed to be against him.</span></p> <p><span>The PM said: “Unfortunately for [Starmer], the shadow deputy PM, shadow minister for women, shadow health, justice, defence, business, Northern Ireland and Scotland ministers are all united against housebuilding in their areas”.</span></p> <p><span>These ministers did not need to be concerned however, “because he’s never actually kept a promise …