HOUSEBUILDERS and developers have reaped billions of pounds due to the Tories’ delays to building regulations, all while becoming one of the Conservative Party’s largest sources of donations, research found today. 

An analysis by The Guardian shows that property developers and construction professionals contribute roughly 10 per cent of donations to the Tory Party. They have donated approximately £40 million since 2010.

Delays to implementing environmental regulations, and green-lighting the building of high-carbon homes, without solar panels and batteries, heat pumps and effective insulation, has benefited the construction industry by at least £15 billion since 2015.

Last month, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak showed little sign of moving forward with his environmental commitments, announcing a U-turn on his net-zero policies. 

Among his new plans is a proposition to relax environmental rules that would have prevented housebuilders from polluting waterways. 

The analysis suggests that if homeowners or taxpayers are left to cover the cost of addressing these omissions to help Britain meet its net-zero targets, it could result in an astonishing expense of £45bn.