His public record on housing is largely confined to his constituency in Ilford North, where he has cited affordable housing as a local priority. He has not, to date, set out a distinct housing policy platform of his own. For mortgage brokers and lenders, his position on the sector – including planning, housebuilding targets, and mortgage market regulation – remains largely unknown, making him something of an unknown quantity should he reach Downing Street.
Ed Miliband: housing through an energy lens
Miliband, the energy secretary and former Labour leader, has engaged with housing primarily through the prism of energy efficiency rather than supply or affordability.
His most significant housing-related policy has been the reinstatement of mandatory minimum energy efficiency standards for the private rented sector. Landlords will be required to bring properties up to an EPC rating of C or above by October 2030, with a spending cap of £10,000 per property and fines of up to £30,000 for non-compliance.
Announcing the policy at the 2024 Labour conference, he said: “We all know that the poorest people in our country often live in cold, draughty homes. It is a Tory legacy. It is a Tory scandal.”
In January 2026, he presented the government’s £15 billion Warm Homes Plan to Parliament, allocating funding for retrofit upgrades with a particular focus on low-income households — though critics, including tenant advocacy groups, argued the final standards had been watered down from earlier proposals.
