‘Warm words, minimal action’: Specialist finance experts critique Labour’s ‘underwhelming’ first year

In its 2024 manifesto, the Labour party promised a “mission-driven” new industrial strategy “focused on the future”.

Post-Election, the Labour government set out a series of pledges including increased stamp duty on additional dwellings, a £5bn housing investment, and the training of 300 graduates and apprentices into local planning authorities.

One year on from the government taking office, how much tangible progress has been made with these ideas?

A stuttering start

“Stop-start would probably be the best way to summarise Labour’s first year in power,” said Paresh Raja, CEO at Market Financial Solutions.

“The past 12 months have been defined by a huge amount of geopolitical turbulence, which has largely been out of the control of Keir Starmer and his party,” he continued.

Paresh noted the “chaos” attached to Trump’s presidency, along with wars in the Middle East and eastern Europe, as factors that have hindered Labour’s domestic policy.

“Positively, the economic landscape has improved slightly. Inflation, while sticky, has remained below 3% for much of the past year,” commented Paresh.

“Meanwhile, the base rate has dropped from 5.25% to 4.25% since Labour came to power. But this isn’t enough to mask the issues surrounding the government.”

Missed targets

Other finance professionals, such as Tanya Elmaz, managing director of intermediaries at Together, highlighted housebuilding as a critical issue. “While the government has set ambitious targets, reduced red tape, and taken steps to attract more young people into construction, delivery is falling short.”

She cited data from Savills, which suggested that the government was set to fall short of its 1.5 million housing target. It predicted that only 840,000 would be delivered.

According to ONS housebuilding data, total completions for Q4 2024 came in at 49,120; for the equivalent period in 2023, the figure was 53,250.

Figures from Glenigan, however, show better news: Q2 2025 saw residential construction starts rise 76% compared to the preceding three months, marking a 64% increase year on year.

Labour’s tenure in power has so far seen it pledge an additional £3bn in support for SMEs and the BTR sector through housing guarantee schemes, while also announcing plans to train 60,000 more people in trades such as bricklaying and engineering.

Paresh maintained that issues around housebuilding needed to be addressed over the next 12 months. While acknowledging that it would take time to implement Labour policies after 14 years of Conservative rule, he believed patience could soon start to run out.

“As a major social issue, boosting the country’s housing stock ought to be a priority over the remaining four years of this parliament,” said Paresh.

“Improving the supply of housing, along with the savvy marshalling of the economy to help bring the base rate down and alleviate the cost of borrowing, would provide a huge shot in the arm for the property market.”

Affordability concerns

Jason Berry, group sales director at Crystal Finance, also saw the government’s first year as underwhelming, arguing that the current environment was doing more to suppress the market than support it.

“Affordability remains the single biggest issue destroying momentum in the purchase market. Interest rates, tight lender criteria, and lack of meaningful government intervention have combined to push many first-time buyers and aspiring movers out of reach,” explained Jason.

“We’ve had warm words but minimal action — especially around targeted incentives or funding support for new-build and affordable housing.”

He believed that landlords had been bearing the brunt, with regulation and tax burdens making the sector unattractive for smaller investors, and EPC burdens, erosion of tax reliefs and a lack of clear long-term planning resulting in landlords exiting and leaving a strain on tenants.

Rental market reforms

Tanya noted that while the stamp duty deadline created a brief surge in activity, recent Together research found that 15% of landlords saw the duty as their biggest challenge to investment.

She believed that while the Renters’ Rights Bill may bring benefits to tenants, it had caused “major issues” for landlords.

“The bill has called for the abolition of fixed-term tenancies, the end of Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions, and the introduction of mandatory landlord registration, making many landlords rethink the makeup of their portfolios. Some have exited the market altogether,” shared Tanya.

“Overall, the past year under Labour has been underwhelming for the property and finance sectors.

“While global events have certainly played a role, the lack of meaningful support for people such as first-time buyers and landlords and the failure to meet housing targets are likely to have lasting consequences.”

Five steps for the future

For Jason, there are five steps that the government needs to implement next: introduce a meaningful FTB stimulus package; reform planning rules; ease the tax burden on landlords; offer clarity on rental reform timelines and implementation; and engage more closely with the specialist finance sector.

Jason continued: “Labour’s majority gives it a platform to be bold but, 12 months in, that promise hasn’t materialised.

“If they want to win back confidence — from consumers, brokers, developers, and landlords — they need to step up with a real plan for housing, not just more cautious rhetoric.”