Scrap failing quango Homes England to speed up council house building, Burnham told

Andy Burnham must scrap the Whitehall quango Homes England if he wants his council house building revolution to succeed, his allies have told The i Paper.

The probable next prime minister has promised “the biggest council house building programme since the post-war era” – a plan set to be guided by his new No 10 North office.

There is mounting speculation that Burnham could break up Homes England, the public body responsible for delivering the country’s affordable housing.

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news

Venezuela earthquake survivor rescued after eight days – the latest

A security guard was pulled from the rubble in La Guaria on Thursday, more than 70 hours after he was located in a concrete booth several stories underground.

Man uninjured after rescue

• Hernan Gil, 44, was working in the basement of a shopping mall car park when the twin quakes struck.
• A Costa Rican paramedic heard his cries, prompting a 70-hour rescue.

NEWS

3 min read

How many people have died?

The official death toll has reached

2,595

as of Thursday morning.

It is expected to rise further though, with as many as

50,000

still reported missing after the twin quakes.

Critics of interim president Delcy Rodriguez have accused the government of not responding fast or urgently enough, and independent counts have been set up.

More miraculous rescues

An eight-year-old, Gael Serrano, managed to crawl to safety on Tuesday with his father and grandmother after their eight-storey apartment block collapsed on them in Caraballeda, burying them in rubble.

Two-year-old Kleiber Moran was also pulled to safety after six days under the rubble, and was reunited with his aunt who told the BBC she would care for him “with a mother’s warmth” until her sister was found.

UN co-ordinator believes death toll will climb

We are definitely looking at a number higher than the one already reported.

A forensic pathologist told CNN that morgues in La Guaira are processing 400 bodies a day, many unrecognisable.

Opposition figures shave accused the government of downplaying the death toll amid estimates it is likely to be in the tens of thousands.

Watch the video here

🇻🇪 Man rescued eight days after Venezuela quakes

An international rescue team have pulled a survivor of Venezuela’s twin earthquakes from the rubble, after surviving eight days underground. Hernan Gil, a 43-year-old security guard, had been buried in the booth of the seven-story… pic.twitter.com/daK4lPGu2Q

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) July 2, 2026

Ex-Olympian charged for ‘vandalising’ Trump’s $14m pool project

David Hearn, 67, is accused of “maliciously” damaging the floor of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool which President Trump just had resurfaced.

Olympian denies vandalism

Hearn, a former US Olympic canoeist, is accused of “forcefully and violently” ripping up sealant that had been installed on the pool as part of Trump’s revamp, causing $1,000 of damage in a “deliberate act”.

Hearn, whose company makes water-resistant materials, says he was passing on a bike ride and reached into the pool to examine the coating, which was peeling.

FOOTBALL

3 min read

What happened to Hearn?

The incident took place on 19 June, shortly after work was completed on the pool. He says he was detained by the National Guard and Park Police for five hours.

US Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, said he was “disrespectful” to an employee who told him to stop touching the pool.

Why was the floor peeling?

The floor had been covered in an ‘American flag blue’ coating, which Trump said would restore the pond’s colour after his predecessors allowed it to turn green.

The water, however, turned green again from algae shortly after the coating was installed. Chemicals were added to try and get rid of the algae which then caused the blue paint to peel.

WORLD

4 min read

Power Players

6 min read

Watch more from The i Paper

@theipaper

Opinion | “American politics is in one of the most volatile periods in modern history, and the warning signs are visible to anyone who has worked near the centre of power,” writes Karine Jean-Pierre, Former White House Press Secretary. “I served in two administrations, under Barack Obama and later Joe Biden, in political strategy, outreach and eventually as White House press secretary – giving me a rare view of how US politics operates from the inside.” Read Karine’s full piece on @theipaper website. donaldtrump uspolitics whitehouse

♬ original sound – The i Paper – The i Paper

politics

Burnham hints at tax changes – here’s what he could increase

In his first interview since being elected as MP for Makerfield, the likely next prime minister Andy Burnham has committed to sticking to Labour’s manifesto pledges on the three main taxes, but hinted others that might go up.

‘I stick by the manifesto’, Burnham tells Marr

Appearing on LBC’s Tonight with Andrew Marr last night, Burnham confirmed he would be keeping to Labour’s 2024 manifesto pledging not to raise income tax, VAT or national insurance.

But he said there was “room within that manifesto for movement on tax”.

Exclusive

4 min read

What taxes could Burnham raise?

• Burnham has already floated increasing business rates on warehouses.
• He could also replace council tax with a land and property value tax.

Explained

4 min read

What about tax cuts?

The former Mayor of Greater Manchester has also hinted that some taxes might be going down, such as business rates for pubs.

Burnham also spoke of reforming income tax, possibly raising the personal allowance threshold from £12,570. This could be accompanied by reintroducing a top rate of 50 per cent for those earning above £150,000.

OPINION

3 min read

Explained

4 min read

Watch more from The i Paper

world cup

Open all hours! Pubs won’t close until 5am for England Mexico match

Fans will be able to stay in the pub until the early hours of Monday morning in England and Wales to watch the Three Lions take on Mexico.

Pubs welcome extended hours

With kick-off for the round of 16 match not starting until 1am on Monday, pubs will be allowed to stay open until 5am for anyone who wants to extend the celebration – or commiseration.

The move has been welcomed across the nighttime industry, with the Greene King chain saying more than 600 of its pubs will be open.

Starmer’s final U-turn?

Football might be coming home but we’re making sure fans don’t have to.

Business minister, Kate Dearden had initially said yesterday opening hours would not be extended, but Sir Keir Starmer reversed the decision by the afternoon.

Pubs had already been granted extended hours for World Cup matches, until 1am for kick-offs 5pm to 9pm, and until 2am for kick-offs between 9pm and 10pm.

In pictures: Joy as England go through

Why men are twice as likely to hit the marathon wall

Men’s tendency towards overconfidence could be to blame for them experiencing the sudden switch from coasting to not coping, known to runners as ‘hitting the wall’.

What the figures show

Among the fastest amateur marathon runners, men are

6 times

more likely to ‘hit the wall’ than women.
Across all speeds, men were twice as likely to experience the slow-down.

This was defined as slowing down by

20%

or more in the second half.

.

A mindset issue, say authors

The clue is that the gap is largest among the fastest men. If this were purely physiology, you might expect the most trained men to manage it best. The fact that they show the biggest gap points to strategy and risk-taking playing a real role, and that is the part a runner can actually change.

Aldo Seffrin at Nova O2 Sports Science

Watch more from The i Paper

@theipaper

The 2026 World Cup is set to be one of the hottest on record, with temperatures in the US expected to top 35°C in cities like Dallas, Houston and Monterrey this June and July. This is not the first time the heat has impacted a World Cup, but for the first time, the 2026 edition will introduce three-minute “hydration breaks” to help the players. The i Paper’s Chief Football Writer@danielstorey85 went to Loughborough University to put his body to the test in a heat chamber and find out exactly what the players will be dealing with. #US #UK #worldcup #football

♬ original sound – The i Paper – The i Paper

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce kick off New York wedding celebrations

The pop superstar and her American football player fiancé have reportedly shut down Madison Square Gardens for their big day tomorrow, with celebrities already spotted in the vicinity.

Fans on the hunt for wedding location

Rumours started to swirl about Swift and Travis Kelce’s nuptials when permits to close the New York arena were filed with the city a few weeks ago.

It now seems all but confirmed their wedding, scheduled to coincide with 4 July celebrations, will take place in the iconic stadium.

What do we know about the wedding?

High-profile guests such as Swift’s producer Jack Anotoff and fellow pop star Selena Gomez were spotted in the area last night, dressed as if to attend a rehearsal dinner.

There were expected to be 100 people there last night with more than 1,000 at the main event today, according to a City permit.

news

How asylum judges spot liars and Home Office mistakes

Robin Callender Smith heard all kinds of cases during his career as a tribunal judge.
Here’s how he identified the difference between liars and Home Office mistakes.

Tribunal judge Robin Callender Smith

Callender Smith is a former barrister who served as a part-time immigration and asylum judge from 2006 to 2017.

He said ruling on asylum appeals was by far the most testing work he has done because “if you get it wrong, you’re sending people back to their deaths”.

NEWS

2 min read

Ruling on asylum cases

Calender Smith said he ruled on two specific cases where the individuals were claiming asylum due to persecution over their sexuality.

During these two cases, he was able to discern which asylum seekers were lying by leveraging his legal experience.

NEWS

2 min read

Big Read

7 min read

How to spot liars

At another “extraordinary” hearing, however, an Iranian man claimed to be gay – and was backed up by his own wife. It’s the sort of case that immediately sounds dubious and could provoke outrage, but digging into the details, Callender Smith realised they were telling the truth.

“They’d grown up together,” he explains. “She knew he was gay and had married him to protect him from what would happen if his sexuality became known.”

Home Office mistakes

“That was confounded by an independent childhood friend who gave independent evidence confirming their story… That was irrefutable. It wasn’t a set-up, it was a true human situation.”

Callender Smith says the Home Office accused them of lying to avoid being sent back to Iran.

New asylum tribunal plan

70%

The amount the backlog of appeals due to be heard by judges has risen in the last year.

The Home Office is replacing judges in appeals with trained members of the public.

• The Home Office says this would “expand the range of suitable candidates while maintaining fairness”, to get through cases more quickly.
• Callender Smith thinks this “legal-lite” idea is highly risky.

The problems with the Home Office’s plan

Callender Smith called the Home Office “a place of great darkness”, adding that he believes it “wants to say no all the time – it doesn’t matter if that’s a Labour no or a Conservative no”.

He fears a ‘Wild West’ if the people making these life-changing decisions aren’t “filtered” by law degrees and experience in the justice system

Analysis

3 min read

Big Read

5 min read

Is the UK set for another heatwave?

Last month was the warmest June on record for England, and the second warmest for the UK as a whole. With temperatures on the rise once again, Britons are wondering if another heatwave is on the way?

NEWS

4 min read

What does the forecast say?

Experts have already warned that another heatwave is likely to be declared in the UK within the coming days as temperatures are forecast to reach 30°C in places.

By the weekend, heat is forecast to build across France and southern Britain with some locations reaching heatwave threshold temperatures.

When is a heatwave declared?

• A heatwave is declared once certain daytime temperatures are reached.
• In London and the south-east, three consecutive days of 28°C are needed.

Analysis

3 min read

What do the experts say?

Although a return to heatwave conditions is looking increasingly likely for some areas, the likelihood of such extreme high temperatures or high levels of humidity as last week is currently low.

Tony Wisson, deputy chief forecaster at the Met Office

Yellow heat warning issued

The UK Health Security Agency has issued yellow heat health alerts for the East Midlands, London, eastern, south-eastern and south-western England, warning that there is a greater risk to life for vulnerable people as a result of the temperatures.

Unlike the last heatwave, however, the air is expected to be less humid, at least initially. So despite the high temperatures, it may feel a little more comfortable.

Labour mayors are pushing Burnham – expected to be in No 10 by month’s end – to ditch the quango and hand over housing funds directly to regional mayors.

But Burnham faces a series of other major hurdles, including a squeeze on UK public spending, a shortage of construction workers and sluggish planning processes.

“Who is going to build them? Who is going to pay for them?” said Dr David Crosthwaite, chief economist at the Building Cost Information Service, voicing scepticism about a big council house building wave.

Time to ‘abolish’ Homes England?

Homes England has been too slow and clunky at delivering affordable housing from Whitehall, said Dr Simon Kaye, director of policy at the Re:State think-tank, whose advisory board includes Conservative and Labour figures. Scrapping it would be a “game-changer”, he told The i Paper.

The quango has been accused by former insiders of being a consultants’ “gravy train”, dogged by long delays making decisions and spending money on the wrong things.

Burnham was one of the advisers for a 2025 Re:State report which said it would be more efficient to give public money directly to regional bodies to buy land and get homes built. “I hope he sees that it fits really neatly with his devolution instincts,” said Dr Kaye.

Steve Rotheram, the Labour Mayor of the Liverpool City Region – a close ally of Burnham – told The i Paper that the next prime minister should give “established mayoral authorities greater control over housing investment, helping us build more homes – including council housing”.

“Homes England does important work and has teams based across the country, but where strong mayoral combined authorities are already in place, I believe their powers and funding should be devolved to local leaders.”

Regional mayors believe Homes England is failing to get social housing projects up and running quickly enough.

David Skaith, the Labour Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, said it is time to remove the “unnecessary red tape” overseen by the quango “that slows down our ability to get homes built”.

Richard Parker, the Labour Mayor of the West Midlands, would also welcome “the full devolution of Homes England regional funding to mayors”.

However, a source in the housebuilding industry said there was scepticism among Britain’s developers about the value of breaking up Homes England.

Some regional mayors may struggle to “spend all the money” due to a lack of planning expertise and a shortage of construction workers.

“Homes England has been good at pushing and pulling money around quite flexibly when things aren’t working out in a particular area.”

One option for Team Burnham would be to move some of Homes England’s planning staff to regional mayors’ teams so expertise is not lost, they added.

It is still working through social and affordable housing bids, interim chair Pat Ritchie said last month. She admitted that coming change at No 10 presented “questions” for the programme.

Big funding squeeze ahead

It is not clear how Burnham plans to pay for his council house building drive.

He will have to find an extra £4.7bn for his first Budget, if he makes it to No 10, after Keir Starmer committed an additional £15bn to defence over the next four years.

“With the state of the public finances, if you’re committed to the fiscal rules, is he going to be able to get his hands on much money [for council housing]?” said Dr Crosthwaite.

Burnham has called for the existing, 10-year £39bn affordable housing budget for England to be redirected towards homes for social rent, the cheapest form of rent seen with traditional council housing.

It may see some of the money moved away from “intermediate” below-market rent and affordable ownership schemes.

Crisis in construction workers

The construction industry is still struggling with the post-Brexit exodus of European workers, losing almost 200,000 people from the EU since 2019, according to the UK Trade Skills Index.

And there is an ongoing problem with an ageing workforce, with too few young people being recruited.

The UK needs an extra 206,000 construction workers – 41,200 a year – by 2030 just to deal with current housebuilding projections, said the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB).

Rico Wojtulewicz, director of policy at the National Federation of Builders, said he hoped small and medium sized firms would be “ready to deliver” on Burnham’s ambitions.

However, he warned that the exodus of EU workers meant construction staff from the North of England and the Midlands had moved South to fill the gap, leaving “a potential for capacity issues”.

Slow planning process ‘getting worse’

Burnham’s plan to scale up council housing faces big hurdles with the current planning system, say experts.

Starmer’s Government has introduced legislation to make it easier to build on the “grey belt” – the lower-quality parts of the protected green belt.

There are plans for further reforms aimed at pushing housebuilders to complete development within a certain time or lose their planning permission.

Wojtulewicz urged Burnham to “supercharge” reforms. More must be done to speed up approval, helping councils and mayors overcome local objections.

“The process is getting worse – it’s taking three or four years to get approval. It must be made quicker,” said the building expert.

Burnham urged to ‘follow through’ on promise

Burnham has said he wants to “use vacant public land to reduce cost”, adding: “We will bring higher density residential development to our towns.”

There is a mixture of hope and scepticism among housing campaigners about whether or not he can deliver.

Prue Bateson, secretary of the tenants’ union Acorn Manchester, said unaffordable private flats made up the majority of new housing built in the city during Burnham’s time as mayor.

“I don’t think we’re seeing the actual benefits of affordable, social, and good quality housing for our members.”

But she still hopes Burnham can “follow through with his promise” to build council housing across the UK.

Burnham’s team was contacted for comment.