Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner have set a target of building 1.5m new homes in just a few years (Image: Getty)

       Labour’s planning Bill has been branded "hypocrisy on stilts”, with ministers pushing to sweep aside “blockers” despite previously opposing developments in their own constituencies.

       Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and housing minister Matthew Pennycook are spearheading the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which has sparked widespread backlash for threatening protected habitats and wildlife. They hope to build 1.5million new homes by the end of this Parliament. But campaigners have accused the pair of being among half a dozen Labour MPs who have shown "double standards" by staunchly opposing similar developments in the past.

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       Kevin Hollinrake, Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, said: “Labour’s Planning Bill is hypocrisy on stilts.

       "Angela Rayner and her frontbench pals block developments in their own constituencies to ‘protect green space’ but now they are planning to bulldoze Britain’s countryside and gag local communities. It’s the classic Labour way of having wrong priorities and contempt for the people they claim to represent.

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       "The Bill sidelines local voices while Labour say they care about the environment and communities, but when push comes to shove, they’ll concrete over both to serve their reckless agenda.”

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       In 2019, Ms Rayner insisted that more than 100 new homes on the site of a former school should only be built if certain conditions were met, including the protection of green spaces.

       She said: “We understand the need for new homes, but our children need safe places to play. It’s vital that members of the community have the ability to walk their dog and enjoy recreational facilities.”

       Meanwhile, Mr Pennycook objected to a 1,500-home project and complained to the local council that the proposed high-rise apartments were “wholly inappropriate”.

       Three other Labour MPs who voted for the Bill, including Alex Sobel, Ruth Cadbury and Matt Rodda, were identified in the “dossier of double standards” compiled by the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM).

       It also included newer MPs Olivia Bailey, Chris Curtis, Andrew Lewin and Josh MacAlister.

       Sally Hayns, chief executive officer of the CIEEM, said: “The UK Government is ploughing ahead with its highly controversial Planning and Infrastructure Bill – a move to fast-track development in England that has sparked widespread national backlash.

       “Although one of the core principles behind the Bill – identifying environmental challenges early and addressing them proactively through state-led intervention – could, in theory, represent a positive step towards the Government’s twin goals of streamlining critical development and improving outcomes for nature, its execution is fatally flawed.

       “As currently drafted, the Bill risks causing widespread, unnecessary, and irreversible ecological harm, while also imposing additional costs, uncertainty and delays on developers due to the lack of clarity around the nature and scope of the proposed conservation measures – namely, Environmental Delivery Plans (EDPs).

       “While Labour MPs have broadly backed the Bill at the national level – with some vociferously making the case during recent parliamentary debates – many, it turns out, have staunchly opposed the same kinds of developments the Bill aims to fast-track in their own constituencies.”

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       Ms Hayns added: “This ‘dossier of double standards’ does not fault MPs for defending their local communities from damaging developments – on the contrary, it applauds it.

       “But it raises a glaring question: if these MPs can clearly recognise the social, spatial and environmental harm of development when it’s on their own doorstep, why are they so willing to back the very same devastation elsewhere?”

       Sir Keir Starmer has repeatedly pledged to back “builders not blockers” amid Britain’s housing crisis.

       Ms Rayner, the Housing Secretary, has said the Government has taken radical steps to overhaul the planning system to get Britain building again “after years of inaction”.

       She said: “In the name of delivering security for working people, we are backing the builders, not the blockers. Now it’s time for developers to roll up their sleeves and play their part.

       “We’re going even further to get the homes we need. No more sites with planning permission gathering dust for decades while a generation struggles to get on the housing ladder.”

       But green groups have warned that any commitments required of developers to restore and improve nature will not be guaranteed to benefit the communities who lost their local natural spaces.

       Compensation could take place miles away or even in another county.

       The Office for Environmental Protection in May warned that the Bill, which is set to return to the Lords for its committee stage later this month, will reduce environmental protections.

       Local say will remain critical and residents will not lose the opportunity to object to a planning application.

       The Bill's changes are designed to streamline planning decisions but officials insist protections for the environment will remain in place.

       Local authorities are ultimately responsible for determining the scale and location of new development in their area.

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       A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, said: “We have inherited the worst housing crisis in living memory and all areas must play their part as we deliver 1.5million homes as part of our Plan for Change.

       “We will work in partnership with councils so we can deliver 1.5million homes, while ensuring that we also create the vital infrastructure that people need in their communities.”

       A Labour source added: “The Tories created a housing crisis and it’s left to Labour to fix the mess. Local say is critical, but this is about how, not whether, new homes are built. It is not the case that residents would lose the ability to object to individual planning applications.”