Two-thirds of voters back development under right conditions, says poll

A majority of voters say they would support development in the right circumstances, according to new research commissioned by a Labour-linked group.

The survey, which was carried out by independent polling company YouGov, found that 66% of people fell into this category, which they described as ‘MIMBYs’, which stands for ‘maybe in my back yard’.

Meanwhile, the research estimated that just one in five (17%) opposed development under any circumstances. The same proportion said they would support development in most or every circumstance.

It was commissioned by Labour Together, a political think tank with close links to the right-wing of the Labour Party. 

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The group’s former director, Morgan McSweeney, is Keir Starmer’s chief of strategy, and the group’s new chief executive, Jonathan Ashworth, was a Labour MP until July’s general election, when he was beaten by a pro-Palestinian independent candidate.

Jack Shaw, senior advisor at Labour Together, said: “The majority of voters are broadly supportive of housebuilding. We call them MIMBYs. And importantly this support is broad based rather than concentrated in cities. 

“Although the voices against housebuilding are vocal, our analysis is clear: only a small proportion of voters are wholly hostile to housebuilding.

“While the specific details of local housebuilding projects will be contested, principled support for housebuilding should give the Government confidence to pursue a laser-like focus on building 1.5 million homes over the Parliament.”

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The research was based on a multilevel regression and post-stratification survey, which uses demographic data to develop a more accurate estimate of nationwide opinion based on a sample from a 12,000-person survey.

The findings were shown last week to a group of Labour MPs by policy and strategy professionals from Labour Together.

The research also found that a plurality of voters thought that there was insufficient housing available in the country and that the majority blamed the last government.

Nearly two-in-five Conservative-to-Labour voters told pollsters that helping young people get on the housing ladder was the most convincing argument to them for housebuilding, but these voters were also the most worried about the impact of new housing on health services in their area.