Simon Clarke: Conservative’s understand the moral and political power of homeownership

Sir Simon Clarke is Director of Onward and served as Conservative Chief Secretary to the Treasury and as Secretary of State for Levelling Up. 

From Baldwin to Thatcher, successive leaders grasped that giving people a stake in society meant giving them a stake in the ground beneath their feet.

A home of one’s own was more than just a roof—it was an identity, a vote of confidence in the future, and a silent but powerful alignment with the values of stability, personal independence, and reward for effort.

Yet today, that promise is fracturing.  And unless we act, it may break entirely.

That is why I am proud that Onward is partnering with the Conservative Party as part of Kemi Badenoch’s wide-ranging policy review.  We will support Kevin Hollinrake and his excellent Housing, Communities and Local Government shadow ministerial team.  Our goal is simple: to lay the intellectual and political foundations for a serious, pro-growth, pro-homebuilding agenda—rooted in Conservative values and built to last.  That’s what Kemi wants to see, and that’s what we will deliver.

Because make no mistake, the evidence is now overwhelming: our failure to build is turning aspiration into alienation.

As James Breckwoldt has shown in his excellent recent work, the housing crisis is not just a social or economic challenge—it is a political emergency. Breckwoldt’s analysis of British Election Study data reveals a striking truth: non-homeowners who believe they will one day buy behave politically like homeowners.  But those who believe they never will be far less likely to vote Conservative, and far more likely to support policies rooted in redistribution and state intervention.

This is not about ideology—it is about belief.  When the route to ownership seems blocked, people stop investing emotionally in a system that appears rigged against them.  The ladder is still there, but the first rungs are missing.

That is the slow erosion we must stop.

We need a planning system that enables—not prevents—sustainable development.  We need to build in the places where demand is highest, where economic growth is being throttled by housing scarcity.  And we need to face up to the hard truth that every planning rejection in a high-demand area is not just a lost home—it is a lost voter, a lost future, and a fraying thread in the Conservative social contract.

This is not about abandoning our principles. It is about applying them.  Building homes is not a betrayal of Conservative values—it is the fulfilment of them.  A property-owning democracy cannot remain a slogan if the reality collapses beneath it.

We are not starting from scratch.  There is a deep Conservative tradition of supporting housebuilding as a vehicle for progress.  Macmillan built at scale because he understood what was at stake.  Thatcher empowered a generation through Right to Buy.  They succeeded not in spite of building, but because of it.

Now it is our turn.  And campaign groups like Conservative YIMBY and Next Gen Tories are leading the way.

Through our work at Onward, we want to help shape the bold, deliverable reforms needed to get Britain building again.  That means unlocking planning, cutting through regulatory gridlock, and delivering homes in the places people actually want to live.  It also means standing up—firmly and unapologetically—for a future where young people can start families, put down roots, and build lives of their own.  Our party has dabbled with NIMBY-ism.  We must now abandon it, and leave that to parties of protest.  We aspire to be a party of government.

To earn the right to govern, we face a choice.  Retreat into managed decline—or lead a national renewal.  Onward exists to ensure we choose the latter.

Because unless we build again, we will find ourselves not only without homes—but without hope.