Simon Clarke says blocking infrastructure plans is ‘shameful’ and will cause UK living standards to worsen

The former cabinet minister Simon Clarke has urged his party not to retreat into blocking housebuilding, saying the party should consider backing Labour’s planning reforms. Clarke, who was a key backer of Liz Truss and one of the few MPs who called for Sunak to resign before the election defeat, said the party’s landslide defeat had partly been down to exacerbating the housing crisis and a failure to take intergenerational fairness seriously.

He cited “shameful” recent byelection campaigns that had centred on blocking housing and infrastructure and said the party would face oblivion if it went down that path.