The government confirmed the first allocations from its £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme on Tuesday, earmarking nearly £10bn for more than 70,000 homes across six English regions and handing councils outside London strategic-partner status for the first time. The announcement drew an immediate Conservative attack on its timetable, came alongside the start of a national NHS rollout of at-home cervical screening kits, and landed with a new YouGov poll showing Labour, Reform UK and the Conservatives separated by three points. This is UKFCP's 24 hours in politics round-up.
The Commons is in recess and next sits on 1 September, so the day's politics ran through departmental announcements and City Hall rather than the chamber. Andy Burnham's government, in office since 20 July, is making its first hard spending decisions ahead of a conference season that begins in Birmingham next week.
First £10bn allocated from the housing programme
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government confirmed funding for more than 70,000 homes across Greater Manchester, the West Midlands, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, North East England and Liverpool City Region, delivered through 33 strategic partners. Greater Manchester is set to deliver 4,400 homes for £529m, the West Midlands 3,200 for £409m, the North East 3,400 for £445m and Liverpool City Region 3,100 for £380m. The government said 60% of homes in the first tranche will be for social rent.
Angela Rayner, the housing secretary, said: "Families can't be left raising children without a place to call home, and none of us should spend years waiting for somewhere safe and affordable to live." England had 1.34 million households on social housing waiting lists as of March 2025. Burnham, who before taking office argued the entire £39bn should go to social rent, announced the package with the 60% floor.
Cleverly calls the package 'a sleight of hand'
Sir James Cleverly, the shadow housing secretary, said the announcement was "yet another unfunded spending commitment", arguing that the small print showed homes need not be delivered until 2039 and that the funding had been backloaded beyond the Spending Review and this Parliament.
"Fewer homes will be delivered than previous programmes in this Parliament as social rent is more expensive," Cleverly said.
Kate Henderson, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, called the money "a major vote of confidence in not-for-profit housing associations" and said it would kickstart construction on tens of thousands of desperately needed social homes. Sector figures have previously said at least 90,000 social homes a year are needed; just over 12,000 for social rent were completed in 2024-25.
NHS starts sending home HPV testing kits
NHS England began a phased national rollout on Tuesday of self-testing kits for human papillomavirus, with invitations going to women aged 30 to 65 who have missed cervical screening appointments via the NHS app, text, email or letter. Around four million women in England are not up to date; the latest figures show 68.8% of those eligible have attended, against an 80% target.
Yvette Cooper, the health secretary, said the kits would be offered to four million women who are behind on screening, adding: "This is the future NHS we are building — there for all of us when we need it." Athena Lamnisos, chief executive of The Eve Appeal, welcomed the kits but said they were "not a replacement for clinician screening". The NHS is targeting elimination of cervical cancer by 2040.
Polling: five-party field stays compressed
YouGov's tracker for The Times and Sky News, fielded on 23 and 24 August, put Reform UK on 23%, Labour on 22%, the Conservatives on 20%, and the Greens and Liberal Democrats on 13% each. Labour has polled between 21% and 24% in the tracker since Burnham became prime minister, against 16% to 20% in the last six months of Keir Starmer's leadership.
The most recent Opinium poll, fielded from 12 to 14 August, had Labour on 27% and Reform on 25%, with Burnham the most favourably viewed leader tested on a net rating of +11, ahead of Kemi Badenoch on -4 and Nigel Farage on -28. The PollCheck seven-poll average on 21 August had Labour on 26.0% and Reform on 25.0%.
Also in the last 24 hours
- Sir Sadiq Khan confirmed £3.3bn of London funding over the four years to 2030, part of the £6bn he is allocating in the capital over the programme's ten-year life.
- Labour called Reform UK's plan to prioritise British-born workers for social housing "unserious and unworkable", saying asylum seekers and visa holders are already ineligible.
- The government will retain Sport England as a statutory planning consultee, a move welcomed by Dame Caroline Dinenage, chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee.
- The Conservatives said they would end social housing provision for foreign nationals in England, which they estimated would free up 228,144 homes.
MPs return to the Commons on Tuesday 1 September, with Reform UK's conference opening in Birmingham two days later.
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