Sadiq Khan’s housing policy ‘like one he previously rubbished’

Labour's mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan was mocked today after he was accused of promising to set up a housing policy very similar to one he had previously rubbished.

Mr Khan repeatedly panned former minister Tessa Jowell’s “Homes for Londoners” plan when he was fighting her to be Labour’s City Hall candidate. But Tory rivals now point out Mr Khan has made his own Homes for Londoners plan a key part of his campaign pitch.

Bromley and Chislehurst Tory MP Bob Neill said: “Khan has slammed the idea that has become central to his housing policy.

“The Khan experiment will — in his own words — delay the vital house building London needs and mean higher taxes for Londoners.”

As the race to be Labour’s candidate was heating up last year, Ms Jowell announced she would set up a new body called Homes for Londoners, to be led by a housing commissioner and with power to build homes on public land. But Mr Khan trashed it, claiming it would take time to get going and cost a lot of money.

Instead he said he would personally take charge of housing rather than “chair a meeting once a month of a new quango”.