\n\t\t\t
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/inews.co.uk\/wp-content\/themes\/inews-theme\/assets\/images\/chevron.svg\"){kind=icon}
<\/p>\nSupport for first-time buyers could come in the form of boosted savings or new affordable homes as experts warn Britain\u2019s housing market is \u201cthe most dysfunctional it has been for decades\u201d. <\/p>\n
Major developers are slashing their targets for the number of new houses they hope to build this year, while housebuilders have \u201cslowed down and scaled back\u201d projects because of serious concerns about whether there are enough buyers to purchase new build homes.<\/p>\n
As a result, Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Chancellor John Healey are believed to be working up some form of support for first-time buyers in a bid to grease the wheels of the housing market ahead of the Budget next month.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\tShorts\n\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\tScroll to previous short
\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\tScroll to next short
\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
news<\/p>\n
Everything you need to know about the Russian elections<\/p>\n
![\"TOPSHOT](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790029339_297_SEI_311510135.jpg\")
Caption: TOPSHOT \u2013 Russian President Vladimir Putin walks down the steps to address troops from the defence ministry, National Guard, FSB security service and interior ministry gathered on the Sobornaya (Cathedral) Square from the porch of the the Palace of the Facets on the grounds of the Kremlin in central Moscow on June 27, 2023. (Photo by Sergei GUNEYEV \/ SPUTNIK \/ AFP via Getty Images)
Photographer: SERGEI GUNEYEV
Provider: SPUTNIK\/AFP via Getty Images
Source: AFP<\/p>\n
The pro-Putin \u200bruling United Russia party retained its decisive majority in the national parliament, near-complete election results showed on \u200cMonday, while the anti-war Yabloko party appeared to have won a tiny foothold in one regional parliament.<\/p>\n
The background<\/p>\n
Vladimir Putin had cast the three-day election to the State Duma \u2013 the first since Russia launched its full-scale war in Ukraine in February 2022 \u2013 as a test of support for the war.<\/p>\n
Elections for \u200bsome regional parliaments and governors were held at the same time.<\/p>\n
In a tightly controlled political system, which critics \u200bsay does not tolerate genuine dissent, few surprises were \u2060expected.<\/p>\n
\t Exclusive<\/p>\n 3 min read<\/p>\n A closer look at the results<\/p>\n With over 95 per cent of the vote counted, Ella Pamfilova, chair of the Central Electoral Commission, said United Russia had won a resounding victory with 57.83 per cent, up from the 49.8 per cent that it won in the last parliamentary election, in 2021.<\/p>\n \t Analysis<\/p>\n 4 min read<\/p>\n \t 4 min read<\/p>\n \nWhat else you need to know\n<\/p>\n United Russia was set to control 355 \u200bseats or nearly 80 per cent of the 450-seat Duma, a total that includes results in individual constituencies.<\/p>\n That would maintain its constitutional \u200bmajority \u2013 enabling it to pass laws and initiate amendments to the constitution without support of other parties.<\/p>\n Pamfilova said three other parties had \u200cmade it \u2060into parliament \u2013 the Communists with 13.81 per cent, the ultra-nationalist LDPR with 8.98 per cent, and the New People party with 7.96 per cent.<\/p>\n read the i paper\u2019s latest analysis<\/p>\n What Putin\u2019s paranoia will lead him to do next<\/p>\n \u201cStalin knew how to run Russia and how to get respect. Vladimir Putin could learn something from him.\u201d<\/p>\n news<\/p>\n BBC removes That Mitchell and Webb Look sketches from iPlayer<\/p>\n The\u00a0BBC\u00a0has removed several sketches from\u00a0That\u00a0Mitchell\u00a0and\u00a0Webb\u00a0Look on\u00a0iPlayer\u00a0after deciding some of the comedy\u00a0show\u2019s\u00a0material \u201cno longer works today\u201d.<\/p>\n \nControversial material removed\n<\/p>\n The sketch comedy\u00a0show, starring comedians David\u00a0Mitchell\u00a0and\u00a0Robert\u00a0Webb, originally ran for four seasons between 2006\u00a0and\u00a02010.<\/p>\n However, some material has been removed, including scenes featuring war re-enactors in Blackface, a joke about Jimmy Savile\u00a0and\u00a0a sketch about a contestant on a makeover show\u00a0wearing a burka, The Times reported.<\/p>\n What did the BBC say?<\/p>\n This is a 20-year-old sketch\u00a0show; in consultation with the programme makers, we have included the ones\u00a0that\u00a0still work today\u00a0and\u00a0not the ones\u00a0that\u00a0don\u2019t.<\/p>\n bbc spokesperson<\/p>\n news<\/p>\n Flights disrupted across north of UK \u2013 what you need to know<\/p>\n Flights across the UK \u2013 particularly Scotland, Northern Ireland and the north of England \u2013 are facing disruption due to a \u201ctechnical issue\u201d with air traffic control.<\/p>\n Here is everything you need to know \u2013 including the airports affected.<\/p>\n What caused the problem?<\/p>\n Nats, which runs air traffic control, has said the issue at its Prestwick centre in Ayrshire is\u00a0\u201cnow fixed\u201d, and that it is working to \u201csafely lift air traffic regulations as quickly as we can\u201d. It said the glitch was a\u00a0\u201cconnectivity issue with part of our systems network\u201d. <\/p>\n \nSecond failure in two weeks\n<\/p>\n This is the second failure at Nats in less than a fortnight. <\/p>\n But it said this most recent disruption has \u201cnothing to do\u201d with the software defect that led to the\u00a0cancellation of 2,000 flights across the UK\u00a0earlier this month.<\/p>\n EasyJet\u00a0said this \u201conce again calls into questions the resilience of Nats\u2019 systems\u201d.<\/p>\n Airports report disruption <\/p>\n Airports across the UK have reported varying degrees of disruption. They include:<\/p>\n Glasgow\u00a0and\u00a0Aberdeen\u00a0\u2013 Arrivals and departures.<\/p>\n Manchester\u00a0\u2013 Issue causing some delays.<\/p>\n Newcastle\u00a0\u2013 Experiencing \u201csome delays\u201d.<\/p>\n Liverpool\u00a0\u2013 Urging passengers to contact their airline.<\/p>\n Bristol\u00a0\u2013 Experiencing some delays and cancellations similar to other airports.<\/p>\n London City\u00a0\u2013 Experiencing \u201csome disruption\u201d and \u201cworking closely\u201d with Nats to resolve the issue.<\/p>\n Belfast City\u00a0\u2013 Warns that there \u201cwill be disruption\u201d to both arrivals and departures.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t A Government spokesperson said \u201cThere are no current plans to introduce a new Help to Buy scheme\u201d; however, The i Paper understands that a different offer for first-time buyers is being considered.<\/p>\n This could include a new, targeted equity loan scheme like New Labour\u2019s HomeBuy Direct \u2013 which was actually the forerunner to Help to Buy and launched in 2008. <\/p>\n A new First Time Buyer ISA<\/a> with no upper age limit is already under review and a third option could be to build homes which are specifically reserved for first-time buyers, offered at slightly cheaper than market prices.<\/p>\n Average UK mortgage rates now sit above 5 per cent due to inflation expectations and global economic volatility, crushing buyers\u2019 borrowing power at a time when British housebuilding is already in the doldrums.<\/p>\n Data for the 12 months leading up to June 2026 suggests that about 203,000 new homes were delivered in England that year, far short of the 300,000 needed to meet the government\u2019s target of 1.5 million new homes by 2029.<\/p>\n The situation is so serious that Britain\u2019s economic watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)<\/a>, may now downgrade the growth forecast that had been attached to Labour\u2019s housebuilding plans, which could have a knock-on effect on housebuilders\u2019 ability to get investment as well as the cost of government borrowing. <\/p>\n Certain government advisors and housebuilders themselves are understood to be pushing the Government to \u201cdo something like Help to Buy\u201d.<\/p>\n Off the back of a new evaluation <\/a>of the scheme\u2019s equity loans for first-time buyers, which found that it delivered \u00a325bn of social value to Britain and helped to boost both homeownership and housebuilding, there is appetite in Westminster to find a way to get credit to households that wouldn\u2019t have been able to buy a home without government support.<\/p>\n However, housing policy expert and former government advisor Rose Grayston said \u201cany first-time buyer support needs to be carefully designed in light of higher interest rates, low house price growth and threats to the economy\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t transplant a solution from ten years ago onto today\u2019s economic conditions and expect to get the same results,\u201d Grayston said.<\/p>\n House prices \u2018no longer rising\u2019 \u2013 this is why<\/p>\n There is valid cause for concern about any intervention in the housing market.<\/p>\n According to expert housing market analyst Neal Hudson, Britain\u2019s housing market is currently experiencing a \u201clong and slow correction\u201d in house prices which mostly looks like \u201cstagnation\u201d with prices \u201cno longer rising\u201d except in London and the south east of England where house prices are falling according to the Office for National Statistics<\/a>.<\/p>\n Some Whitehall insiders even fear that what is unfolding is, in fact, a protracted \u201ccrash\u201d in house prices. <\/p>\n \u201cHouse prices have stopped rising, but there have been limited falls so far,\u201d Hudson explains in a more measured way. \u201cInstead, we are reliant on a long and slow improvement in affordability as wages catch up with house prices.\u201d<\/p>\n In the short-term, however, the situation is causing pain for housebuilders and, by extension, Britain\u2019s economy as a whole. <\/p>\n Some housebuilders have been \u201cforced\u201d to stop buying new land while others have \u201cslowed down and scaled back\u201d their building projects because of serious concerns about whether \u201cthere are enough buyers out there to buy the new housing they would build\u201d, according to Steve Turner, executive director of the House Builders Federation (HBF). <\/p>\n Major developers such as Barratt Redrow have cut their forecasts for the number of new homes they hope to build this year. Britain\u2019s biggest housebuilder, which built 17,667 homes between July 2025 and June 2026, had been aiming to increase output in its current financial year to between 17,700 and 18,200 homes. However, they now expect to build somewhere between 17.500 and 17,900. <\/p>\n Burnham\u2019s government finds itself in a tight spot when it comes to housing. The former prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, had pinned much hope on flagship planning reforms \u2013 now the Planning and Infrastucture Act \u2013 in the hope that cutting red tape would speed up housebuilding. <\/p>\n However, so far, even though there has been an uptick in planning applications, it has not translated into completed new homes.<\/p>\n Grayston explains that Labour cannot expect \u201cthe planning system to solve a macroeconomic problem.\u201d She said: \u201cIf we look at London in particular, we\u2019ve now got lots of planning permissions, but there isn\u2019t the demand from buyers who can get mortgages in the economy to build those out.\u201d<\/p>\n Hudson and other housing experts have long been warning that Britain\u2019s housing market was stalled because house prices were so high that interest rate hikes \u2013 like those triggered by Putin\u2019s war in Ukraine and Liz Truss\u2019s so-called \u201cmini-budget\u201d \u2013 stretched affordability for buyers beyond what banks would lend.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Turner said it was no longer \u201cfinancially viable\u201d for builders to develop some sites \u201cbecause of additional taxes like the building safety levy and landfill tax that have been layered onto housebuilders\u201d.<\/p>\n He also warned that inflation of materials costs had pushed builders to their limit. \u201cAs a result of the layering on of new taxes, policy costs and material price inflation, it now costs \u00a376,000 per house more to build a house compared to five years ago,\u201d Turner said. <\/p>\n \u201cThe industry is having to reduce its outgoings and slow down building because of these challenges. We have seen many SME builders go out of business,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n The options for help<\/p>\n Grayston says that potential solutions could include releasing land from the Green Belt specifically for homes that don\u2019t rely on demand for market sale, like social homes, Build to Rent and, potentially, homes that are specifically for first-time buyers.<\/p>\n These first-time buyer homes, should be \u201cavailable at discounted market rates because if you bring down the price of the home and you bring down the mortgage that people need to take out\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n Hudson said that Burnham had inherited \u201ca load of underlying issues that have been building up in the housing market and brought to the fore by higher interest rates.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe need more clarity of thinking about how we actually deal with them,\u201d Hudson added.<\/p>\n He suggested one way to solve the problem would be to \u201csubsidise demand\u201d by bringing forward \u201ca load of social and affordable housing funding\u201d to ensure that developers could build purely affordable housing while also upping government funding to ensure the affordable housing included in private developments actually gets built because this would \u201cde-risk market developments\u201d.<\/p>\n So far, despite promising a landmark package of \u00a339 billion for social and affordable housing (SAHP) over ten years, Housing Secretary Angela Rayner<\/a> has only managed to get \u00a310 billion out of the door. <\/p>\n
\n\t\t![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790029340_956_SEI_313290067.jpg\")
\n\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790029340_393_SEI_310622109.jpg\")
\n\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790029341_731_SEI_312968719.jpg\")
\n\t<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790029342_121_SEI_313274508.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790029342_622_SEI_285809504.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Television](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790029343_281_AY_24029746.jpg\")
Caption: Television programme: That Mitchell and Webb Look.
Picture shows: Captain Good (Robert Webb) and Monsieur Voirons (David Mitchell)
TX BBC Two Thursday 11th June 10.00pm
Photographer: BBC
Provider: BBC
Copyright: BBC PICTURE ARCHIVES<\/p>\n![\"TELEVISION](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790029344_932_AD_2361090.jpg\")
Caption: TELEVISION PROGRAMMES: THAT MITCHELL AND WEBB LOOK.
PICTURE SHOWS: ROBERT WEBB AND DAVID MITCHELL
Sir Walter Raleigh (David) names his latest discovery Virginia. His First Mate wonders if it\u2019s \u201ca bit personal, to name a new land after the fact that our Queen\u2019s never done it\u201d.
BBC Two: Thursday 21st Feb 2008
BBC WARNING: Use of this copyrighted image is subject to Terms of Use of BBC Digital Picture Service. In particular, this image may only be used during the publicity period for the purpose of publicising \u2018That Mitchell and Webb Look\u2019 and provided the BBC is credited. Any use of this image on the internet or for any other purpose whatsoever, including advertising or other commercial uses, requires the prior written approval of the BBC.
Photographer: BBC
Provider: BBC
Copyright: BBC PICTURE ARCHIVES<\/p>\n![\"Television](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790029344_102_AY_46322636.jpg\")
Caption: Television programme, \u2018THAT MITCHELL AND WEBB LOOK\u2019. BBC Picture shows: Rob Webb and David Mitchell as Phillips (a scientist) and Monsieur Garnier TX BBC TWO TUESDAY 12TH JULY 2010
Photographer: BBC\/Sue Foll
Provider: BBC
Copyright: BBC PICTURE ARCHIVES<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790029345_598_SEI_264757619.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"LONDON,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790029347_900_SEI_311370445.jpg\")
Caption: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM \u2013 SEPTEMBER 08: Passengers wait inside and around London Heathrow Airport following widespread flight delays and cancellations caused by a technical failure in National Air Traffic Services\u2019 (NATS) flight processing system in London, United Kingdom, on September 08, 2026. Technical issues are causing disruptions in flight departures at UK airports, Britain\u2019s air traffic control service said Wednesday. (Photo by Rasid Necati Aslim\/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Photographer: Anadolu
Provider: Anadolu via Getty Images
Source: Anadolu<\/p>\n![\"CRAWLEY,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790029349_697_SEI_311485162_16921b.jpg\")
Aviation analytics company Cirium said as of 5.30pm, 357 flights had been cancelled or not taken off at UK airports on Wednesday (Photo: Dan Kitwood\/Getty)<\/p>\n![\"Travellers](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790029350_952_SEI_311471433.jpg\")
Caption: Travellers lay on the floor with their luggage at the South Terminal of London Gatwick airport near Crawley, southern England on September 9, 2026, following second day of major disruption due an issue affecting the NATS air traffic control systems. UK travellers faced more misery on September 9, with more than 150 flights scrapped across the country, as Britain\u2019s air traffic control service scrambled to recover from a technical glitch that sparked chaos. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS \/ AFP via Getty Images)
Photographer: JUSTIN TALLIS
Provider: AFP via Getty Images
Source: AFP
Copyright: AFP or licensors<\/p>\n![\"(FILES)](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790029351_866_SEI_293364202.jpg\")
Europe has just six weeks of jet fuel supplies, experts have warned (Photo by JEFF PACHOUD \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"TOPSHOT](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790029352_633_SEI_311420523.jpg\")
Caption: TOPSHOT \u2013 Cancelled flights are pictured on an electronic check-in display board at Terminal 3 of London Heathrow airport, west of London on September 8, 2026, following major disruption due an issue affecting the NATS air traffic control systems. Flights to and from the UK were cancelled on on September 8, due to a \u201ctechnical issue\u201d affecting UK\u2019s National Air Traffic Services (NATS), which says it is working to resolve the situation. (Photo by Henry NICHOLLS \/ AFP via Getty Images)
Photographer: HENRY NICHOLLS
Provider: AFP via Getty Images
Source: AFP
Copyright: AFP or licensors<\/p>\n<\/p>\n