The Labour government must succeed where the Tories – the party of home ownership – have failed

Editorial: Property ownership is high on the list of broken promises from the last 14 years of Conservative rule. Whichever party can help young people onto the housing ladder will reap rewards at the ballot box

The Conservatives are no longer the party that aspirational homeowners turn to for help to get on to the property ladder (PA)

The latest data, derived from the last census and analysed by The Independent, reveals that not only is the rate of British home ownership edging down once again, but that this unwelcome trend is more pronounced in the Conservative seats Rishi Sunak’s party is trying to hold onto. In these constituencies, it has fallen by one-fifth over the past decade or so, eroding the traditional Tory electoral base and adding to the party’s many challenges.

This data highlights once again how the dream of home ownership has slipped, seemingly forever, from the grasp of younger citizens. There has long been a crisis in social housing, homelessness is a continual scourge, and the cost of renting a home is pushing many away from places where there are jobs, but for the present government the most potent of the challenges is the inexorable decline in the numbers of owner-occupiers.

Each and every disappointed would-be homeowner represents a long-term erosion in the electoral base of the Tory party. We are about to witness just how existential that will be.