OPINION: If the Labour party was once conceived as the means by which the working class would be represented at Westminster, there can be no doubt that today the Conservative party exists almost exclusively as the parliamentary wing of the nation’s propertied, well-to-do pensioners.

It seems apposite to ask if, with the potential for electoral annihilation looming, the Tories have decided to begin the work the voters will surely complete at the ballot box. Because surely only a party with a death wish would embrace Theresa Villiers’ crackpot plans to scrap all mandatory housing targets.

No doubt MPs representing leafy home counties constituencies will receive a slap on the back at their next association meeting if they see off the dreaded diggers, but for a party whose identity since Margaret Thatcher has been entwined with the concept of a home-owning democracy this looks suicidal.

Less than 10% of land in the south east, outside the capital, is developed. For all the wailing about Kent becoming the ‘Patio of England’ there is simply no way you can describe the county or country as ‘full up’. Your public services may be under strain - but blame a decade of cuts rather than some wild notion that it’s down to too many people moving in next door.

But while we’re not full up, private renters are certainly fed up, with rent draining out every month and the first rung of the property ladder seeming to recede further from grasp with every government intervention in the market.

"For all the wailing about Kent becoming the ‘Patio of England’ there is simply no way you can describe the county or country as ‘full up’..."

If proudly pro-market parties of the right are to have any hope of attracting the young to their electoral coalition then it is vital they show a capitalism that’s working. And it’s hard to buy into that system when you have little hope of ever having capital yourself.

The vocal NIMBY brigade may cheer if house-building targets are junked. Their MPs will have something to put on their leaflets at the next election. And the average age of Tory voters will climb a little higher. But it will prove to be short-term gain for long term pain. It’s hard to sell your political vision for the future when you insist on locking future generations out of it.