What the government’s key struggles will be

This is when promises have to be turned into action. Three issues dominate: the need to reduce the government deficit, the EU referendum and in simple terms, inequality.

The prime minister has gone to Europe more secure than ever and it looks as if he may be making some progress, not least with German chancellor Angela Merkel, who is keen to keep the UK in the EU tent and shares some of David Cameron’s concerns about the need for change. Treaty change is probably off the table but there are always opt-outs, derogations, call them what you will. The PM will come back with a package which he will claim as a triumph. He will do so sooner rather than later. This is a battle he needs to get out of the way next year if he can. And we will vote to stay in. Whether I agree with that sentiment is not the issue.

The British are notoriously small “c” conservative when it comes to their future. Arguably the last election is proof of that itself, but the last time we were asked if we wanted to stay in, Harold Wilson came back with almost nothing and we still said yes.

Getting the deficit down is an even bigger challenge. The first cuts have been announced but the really painful stuff is still to come. The Office of Budget Responsibility has said the next five years will need to see far tougher cuts than we saw in the last five. Welfare will be the hardest battle, if only because that is where the biggest savings can be made. Reducing the benefit cap to £23,000 a year, stopping child tax credit after the first two children and tightening up housing benefit for under-25s have all been mooted, but don’t go anywhere near far enough, not least because the pensions bill continues to rise.

The Tories have made matters more difficult for themselves by ruling out tax rises for income tax, NI and VAT, which just happens to cover 60% of revenue, and by insisting on protecting the health and international aid budgets. Their only real hope is that they can grow tax receipts by stimulating more job creation and business growth. That’s the other half of the budget deficit equation we don’t hear enough of.

All the parties made brave claims about how they would tackle Britain’s growing housing crisis. None came close to showing how they would do it. The elephant in the room, as I have long insisted, is the planning system. Every developer knows it. The process is plagued by delay and uncertainty. We have strong demand, massive amounts of cash waiting to be invested, an industry champing at the bit and a labour force capable of delivering. Councils point to outstanding consents without acknowledging why so many are not being acted on. Section 106 and the Community Infrastructure Levy cause endless delay, often motivated by councillors being more interested in small but vocal protest groups than they are in delivering homes.

When he was mayor, Ken Livingstone persuaded government to give him power to overturn refusals and give consent where he saw councils getting in the way of development. It earned the old Marxist an unusual reputation as the developer’s friend. But Ken wasn’t interested in the developers. He was interested in the homes they delivered.

George Osborne is rightly keen on the devolution agenda. He might reflect on what good sense it would be to allow all the elected mayors of these city regions the same powers. And top of Greg Clark’s to-do list should be working out how to cut planning delay. Nothing else will have as much impact on solving a crisis that is getting worse by the day. It’s time to turn those fine manifesto words into action.

Steve Norris is a former Conservative minister and London mayoral candidate. He is chairman of Soho Estates and the National Planning and Infrastructure Association