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Shapps in Radio 4 row over affordable housing figures
Housing Minister Grant Shapps was embroiled in a row with John Humphrys who accused the government of being deceptive for announcing the housing strategy on Monday, just a day before figures confirmed 454 affordable homes were built in the six months in 2010.
Shelter branded the results “shocking” and said they were a result of the 60% cut to the housing budget after the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR).
Radio Four Presenter John Humphrys asked why the government announced its housing strategy on Monday if it knew the key figures for the six months following April 2010 were out the next day.
Shapps said the figures had never been published by the media before and his figures showed that since the Tory-led Coalition took power, affordable housing starts had risen by a quarter to 170,000.
Humphrys countered that the media had never picked up the figures before because they had never been this low at 454.
“This is nowhere near as significant as you are making out,” said Shapps.
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“If you take a look at our figures, you’ll see no movement in the annual trend,” he said.
“Overall. We are going to build more affordable homes in this country and that’s what should matter,” concluded Shapps.
For audio of the full interview, click here