Andrew Griffith, the shadow chancellor, is set to address the Tory conference with a comprehensive plan aimed at reducing bureaucratic regulations to lower the cost of new houses by up to £50,000. The proposal includes eliminating environmental quangos like the Environment Agency and Natural England, scrapping net zero regulations and other planning laws such as section 106 agreements and the community infrastructure levy, which are said to increase housing costs. Griffith’s plan also involves backing a third runway at Heathrow, leaving an international treaty on public access to environmental information, speeding up nuclear power station delivery, and simplifying the tax code. Labour has criticized Griffith for lacking credibility on these issues.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-05,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it -0.35, but every quote it verified points right, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph
rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 56887: score contradicts its own evidence · logged 2026-10-05
Zack Polanski banned from Israel after Green party votes to equate Zionism with racism
Last night Israel’s foreign affairs ministry said that Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, has been banned from the country following his party conference voting for a motion saying “Zionism is racism”.
asserted
Zionism → ban → motion
The motion was “a clear antisemitic text according to the IHRA definition, as it denies the Jewish people’s right to self-determination”, the ministry said.
uncertain
ministry → accord → determination
It went on:
asserted
It → go → ?
Therefore, as a first step, foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar has decided this evening to declare Green party leader Zack Polanski barred from entering Israel.
asserted
Polanski → decide → Israel
Tories accused of copying Reform UK after shadow chancellor says axing red tape could cut cost of new homes by £50k
Good morning.
uncertain
axing → accuse → 50k
Yesterday Kemi Badenoch published a tract setting out the principles that a Conservative government would follow in office.
asserted
government → publish → office
It was presented as Thatcherism revived for the 21st century, and a key theme was that government should leave wealth creation up to business, and not get in the way with red tape.
asserted
government → present → tape
Today Andrew Griffith, the shadow chancellor, is presenting a plan that illustrates what this would mean in practice.
asserted
this → present → practice
Normally, at party conference, ministers and shadow ministers put out a press release in advance of their speeches highlighting just one headline policy idea, with perhaps one or two associated policies.
asserted
ministers → put → policies
Overnight Griffith has published what is practically a manifesto.
asserted
what → publish → ?
The press release alone runs to almost 5,000 words.
asserted
release → run → words
Jessica Elgot had the task of reading them all for us yesterday and here is her write-up.
asserted
up → have → us
She has led her story on the plan to get rid of two environment quangos, the Environment Agency and Natural England.
asserted
She → lead → quangos
But there are plenty of other proposals in the package too, including:
-Getting rid of net zero regulations and other planning laws, including section 106 agreements and the community infrastructure levy, that put up the cost of housebuilding.
-Getting rid of the EPR (extended producer responsibility), a law intended to make producers liable for waste disposal costs.
asserted
producers → be → costs
The Tories call it the “grocery tax”.
asserted
Tories → call → it
The Tories claim this enables the “lawfare hindering every major infrastructure project in this country”.
uncertain
this → claim → country
The Tories claim the plans relating to housebuilding would “cut up to an estimated £50,000 off the price of a new home”.
uncertain
plans → claim → home
There is more detail in what Griffith is proposing, and there is clearly a lot to discuss.
asserted
Griffith → be → what
Labour and Reform UK have both responded overnight – but taking different lines of attack.
asserted
Labour → respond → attack
Labour has said that Griffith has no credibility on these topics.
asserted
Griffith → say → topics
In an overnight statement, Bridget Phillipson, the party chair, said:
Trusting the co-author of Liz Truss’ disastrous mini-Budget with Tory plans on the economy and housing is like asking an arsonist to run the fire service.
asserted
author → say → service
Kemi Badenoch is once again demonstrating her appalling lack of judgement.
asserted
Badenoch → demonstrate → judgement
The Tories had 14 years in government to grow our economy and help people get on the housing ladder, but they completely failed at every turn.
asserted
they → have → turn
But Richard Tice, the Reform UK deputy leader and business spokesperson, says that Griffith is copying ideas that his party has already adopted.
asserted
party → say → that
He says:
asserted
He → say → ?
Tories pledge to scrap some costs regulations and taxes they put in place!
asserted
they → pledge → place
They are copying Reform policies we announced weeks and months ago!
asserted
we → copy → policies
They are trying to fix problems they created 😡
Never forget
Never forgive
One of the themes emerging at this conference is that, while there is far less talk of some sort of Tory/Reform UK pact than there was a year ago, the policy overlap continues.
asserted
overlap → try → pact
Yesterday the Conservatives announced two other proposals (excluding foreigners from the student loan scheme, and reducing aid spending to just £1bn a year) that were little more than cut-and-paste versions of Reform UK pledges.
asserted
that → announce → pledges
Andrew Bowie, the shadow energy secretary, speaks at the conference on the main stage (the smaller of the two halls the Tories are using at this conference for speeches).
asserted
Tories → speak → speeches
Griffith takes part in “meet the team” event in the symphony hall (the conference stage being used for larger events) with Richard Fuller, chief secretary to the Treasury, Katie Lam, the shadow housing secretary, and Julia Lopez, the acting shadow business secretary.
asserted
Griffith → take → Treasury
The Aporia
