The construction of three new towns will begin before the next general election, Labour has pledged.

A taskforce has recommended 12 locations in England for development, with three areas – Tempsford in Bedfordshire, Leeds South Bank, and Crews Hill in north London – identified as the most promising sites.

Housing Secretary Steve Reed is expected to announce the plans in a speech on the opening day of Labour’s annual party conference.

Labour has put housebuilding at the centre of its vision of how to get the economy growing, promising to build 1.5 million new homes by 2029.

Tempsford is home to 600 people and currently has around 300 houses. Its parish council chairman David Sutton said residents had been kept in the dark about the potential plans, including how many new homes could be built.

“The biggest problem we’ve got at the moment is that even today, as an announcement’s being made, we’ve been given no idea whatsoever of the scale of what we’re being asked to live amongst,” he told the PA news agency.

“Nobody’s come to talk to us at all.”

The promise of a “new generation of new towns” was included in Labour’s election manifesto last year.

The 12 proposed developments range from large-scale standalone new communities, to expansions of existing towns and regeneration schemes within cities.

Sites in Cheshire, South Gloucestershire, East Devon, Plymouth and Manchester are among those which have been recommended for development.

The chosen sites will be subject to environmental assessments and consultation, with the government confirming the final locations and funding next spring.

Labour said each new town would have at least 10,000 homes and they could collectively result in 300,000 homes being built across England over the coming decades.

The government has welcomed a recommendation from the New Towns Taskforce that at least 40% of these new homes should be classed as affordable housing.

A New Towns Unit will be tasked with bringing in millions of pounds of public and private sector funding to invest in GP surgeries, schools, green spaces, libraries and transport for the new developments.

The taskforce has recommended new towns are delivered by development corporations, which could have special planning powers to compulsory purchase land, invest in local services, and grant planning permission.

This follows the model of the regeneration of Stratford in east London during and after the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “For so many families, homeownership is a distant dream.

“My Labour government will sweep aside the blockers to get homes built, building the next generation of new towns.”

In his speech, the housing secretary will promise to “build baby build”, while “taking lessons from the post-war Labour government housing boom”.

“This party built new towns after the war to meet our promise of homes fit for heroes. Now, with the worst economic inheritance since that war, we will once again build cutting-edge communities to provide homes fit for families of all shapes and sizes,” Reed is expected to say.

After World War Two Clement Attlee’s government planned the first wave of new towns, including in Stevenage, Crawley and Welwyn Garden City, to relocate people from poor or bombed-out housing, with development corporations assigned responsibility for building them.

The announcement comes as Labour members gather in Liverpool for the party’s annual conference.

It will be Reed’s first major speech since he took over from Angela Rayner as housing secretary, after she resigned for failing to pay enough tax on a flat purchase.

It has been a bruising few weeks for Sir Keir, who is facing questions over his leadership and the direction of his party.

With Labour trailing behind Reform UK in the polls, the prime minister has stepped up his attacks on Nigel Farage’s party.

Arriving in Liverpool on Saturday, he warned Reform would “tear this country apart” and said the conference would be an opportunity to set out his alternative to the “toxic divide and decline” offered by the party.

As part of the 31st specialised training programme (STP), the newly inducted civil service officers of the Commerce and Trade Group, Ministry of Commerce, visited the headquarters of the Pakistan Textile Council (PTC) in Islamabad.

The session provided the civil servants with an in-depth understanding of Pakistan’s largest export sector and its significance for the national economy. Officers were briefed on the structure of textile and apparel value chain, its share in overall exports of Pakistan and in the gross domestic product (GDP). The challenges being faced by the industry, and the policy support required to enhance exports of Pakistan, were also shared with the officers.

Delivering a comprehensive presentation, PTC CEO Muhammad H Shafqaat highlighted the vital contribution of the textile and apparel sector to Pakistan’s economic growth and exports.
He informed them about the key challenges, including the high cost of doing business and policy uncertainty as well as opportunities and challenges arising out of the EU Green Deal for the future of Pakistan’s trade with the European Union, the country’s largest trading partner.

He underscored the importance of adopting regionally competitive energy, tax, wage, and interest rate policies to compete well with regional economies like Bangladesh, Vietnam, China and India, especially in the wake of reciprocal tariffs imposed by the US.

The minister of commerce, while commenting on the visit, shared that such exercises are crucial for preparing future policymakers to better understand the realities of industry, ensuring that Pakistan’s trade policies are responsive to both domestic challenges and evolving global market dynamics.
He stated that “engaging with the private sector during training is critical for our newly inducted civil servants. Such visits ensure that officers understand the real challenges faced by the industry.”
 

The government will underwrite a £1.5bn loan guarantee to Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) in a bid to support its suppliers as a cyber attack continues to halt production at the car maker.

Business Secretary Peter Kyle said the loan, from a commercial bank, would protect jobs in the West Midlands, Merseyside and across the UK.

The manufacturer has been forced to suspend production for weeks after being targeted by hackers at the end of August.

There have been growing concerns some suppliers, mostly small businesses, could go bust due to the prolonged shutdown. The company operates the largest supply chain in the UK automotive sector, employing around 150,000 people.

It is hoped the loan will give suppliers some certainty as the shutdown continues.

The government will underwrite the loan through the Export Development Guarantee (EDG), a financial support mechanism aimed at helping UK companies who sell overseas.

The loan will be paid back by JLR over five years, in an effort to boost the firm’s cash reserves as it makes a “backlog of payments” to its suppliers.

No cars have been built this month, and the company has stopped placing orders with its 700 suppliers.

A parliamentary committee said some small suppliers had told them they had, at most, one week left before they ran out of cash.

The halt in operations is thought to be costing JLR itself at least £50m per week.

The manufacturer, owned by India’s Tata Motors, typically builds about 1,000 cars a day at its three factories in Solihull and Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, and Halewood in Merseyside.

Kyle said: “Following our decisive action, this loan guarantee will help support the supply chain and protect skilled jobs in the West Midlands, Merseyside and throughout the UK.”

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “Today we are protecting thousands of those jobs with up to £1.5bn in additional private finance, helping them support their supply chain and protect a vital part of the British car industry.”

Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith welcomed the government’s support but said it “took too long to get there” and called on Labour to form a cyber reinsurance scheme to protect British businesses from state-backed actors.

Liberal Democrat business spokesperson Sarah Olney also praised the move but said the government had been “too slow to act”, adding it should also be prepared to provide a furlough scheme for affected workers if required.

Union Unite, representing thousands at JLR and in the supply chain, described the government support as an “important first step”.

“The money provided must now be used to ensure job guarantees and to also protect skills and pay in JLR and its supply chain,” said general secretary Sharon Graham.

JLR was hit by a cyber-attack on 31 August. A group calling itself Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters has claimed responsibility for the hack.

It was also behind a number of high-profile attacks on retailers earlier this year, including Marks & Spencer and Co-op.

JLR workers have been told to stay home since 1 September, with no firm return date provided.

About 30,000 people are directly employed at the company’s plants.

A JLR spokesperson said: “Our teams continue to work around the clock alongside cybersecurity specialists, the NCSC and law enforcement to ensure we restart in a safe and secure manner.

“The foundational work of our recovery programme is firmly underway, and we will continue to provide regular updates to our colleagues, retailers and suppliers.”