A fresh war of words broke out between Sadiq Khan and ministers as the Government draws close to publishing its review of London’s housing plan.
Housing Secretary Michael Gove last month put City Hall in “special measures” and threatened to strip the Mayor of his planning powers if he does not agree to an audit of home building in the capital, due to be published as soon as this week.
But Mr Khan on Tuesday argued the latest figures show that he has exceeded the Government-set affordable homes target that ministers themselves failed to hit outside of the capital.
He accused the Government of taking part in a "desperate political stunt" and said the Conservatives were "undermining devolution to distract from their record of failure".
Housing stock in London increased by 9.1 per cent between 2016 and 2023, according to Government data, compared to 7.5 per cent elsewhere in the country.
Mr Khan said: “This latest review is a desperate political stunt by Conservative ministers, and it will fool no one.
“The truth is Labour London is outbuilding the rest of the country, and we’re showing up ministers’ dismal failure on council and affordable housebuilding nationally.
“We certainly won’t take lessons from a Government that has scrapped housing targets nationally.
“If the Conservatives really cared about boosting housing delivery, they’d act on my calls for more investment in affordable housing and stop caving to back benchers by watering down housing targets.”
Mr Gove has tasked a panel of housing, council and legal experts to review the London Plan, which sets out how the city should be developed, and find where building in the capital can be sped up.
His department hit back at Mr Khan, saying that in the last three years the average number of additional homes provided by the Mayor has been just 38,000, which is 15,000 fewer homes annually than his own target in the London Plan.
A Government source said: “As ever with Sadiq Khan, his words do not match the reality faced by Londoners.
"Hundreds of thousands of families are locked out of the housing market in the capital because his abject failure to deliver enough new homes. Londoners deserve better.
"This Conservative Government has put the Mayor’s housing plan in special measures, and we reserve the right to intervene to speed up housebuilding if Khan’s record of failure does not urgently improve.”
