An invitation to question
When I published Manifesto 1.0, I invited people to read it, challenge it and help improve it. That invitation had to mean more than asking for agreement. It meant being prepared to listen when people questioned the assumptions, costs and practical delivery of a proposal.
Public scrutiny and citizen involvement have helped shape what comes next. Questions and objections have prompted reconsideration, and reconsideration has led to a substantive policy change.
Housing: where scrutiny changed the proposal
My original Proposal 09 called for one million new social homes over ten years. Through public scrutiny and debate, the feasibility of that all-social scale and its financing was challenged. I reconsidered the delivery model and withdrew the original pledge.
Manifesto 1.1 now proposes one million additional homes over ten years through mixed tenure. Social and affordable housing remain part of the programme, alongside shared ownership and other intermediate tenures, appropriate build-to-rent and private homes for sale.
The ambition to increase housing supply remains. The way we propose to deliver it has changed.
What that evolution means
A revised policy, not a renamed promise
The revised housing programme brings councils, housing associations, partnerships and private builders into one framework: public lending, targeted grants and conditional private-sector incentives, with the tenure mix shaped by local need.
The former all-social cost assumptions have been retired. A mixed-tenure cost model is still required. No replacement headline price or claim of a fully funded programme has been invented.
Scrutiny does not mean automatic agreement
Listening does not mean adopting every suggestion. Some comments lead to clarification, others identify questions requiring evidence, and some lead to policy change. Each argument deserves consideration on its merits.
The withdrawal concerns Proposal 09: one million new social homes. Proposal 08, compulsory health insurance, has not been withdrawn. Its objections remain recorded and it remains open to scrutiny.
Keep the change visible
The original should remain accessible as a historical record. Readers should be able to see what was proposed, what was challenged, what changed and what still needs testing.
Contributors’ words must remain separate from my assessment. Recognising their contribution does not imply that they endorse the whole manifesto.
Jamie Foster
Read it. Challenge it. Improve it.
Read the record
- Day 10 · Revised Proposal 09: One Million New Homes Through Mixed Tenure
- Withdrawn original Proposal 09 — historical record
- Proposal 08: compulsory health insurance — not withdrawn
- Manifesto 1.1 — complete working master (PDF)
Text from the supplied The Evolution to Manifesto 1.1 PDF. Based on Manifesto 1.1: the revision process (p. 4), housing programme (pp. 10–11), Housing Budget 3.1 (p. 22) and revision record (p. 30). Proposal 08 and Proposal 09 refer to the public-release numbering.