Healey confirms £71m for Devon tungsten mine as housing plans face scrutiny
Chancellor John Healey announced up to £71m from the National Wealth Fund to restart the Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine near Plymouth, citing defence and nuclear industry needs. The announcement came as the government’s £10bn housing plan drew criticism over social renting targets and delivery timelines.
Chancellor John Healey has confirmed that the government will invest up to £71m from the National Wealth Fund to restart operations at the Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine near Plymouth, Devon. Healey said the investment would bolster Britain’s defence and nuclear industries by securing access to one of the world’s largest tungsten deposits, a critical mineral used in military equipment, energy systems, and aerospace manufacturing.
“We are living in a more dangerous world, which is why backing British industry is more important than ever before,” Healey said. “This investment will supply vital minerals to British defence, energy and aerospace businesses – and keep good, well-paid jobs in the UK.” The announcement was made as part of a broader government push to strengthen domestic supply chains for strategic resources, with the mine expected to reduce reliance on foreign sources of tungsten, a metal classified as critical by several Western governments.
The funding decision came on the same day the government laid out its housing plans, which include a £10bn programme intended to deliver new homes. However, the plans have already drawn criticism from opposition parties and housing campaigners over the proportion of social renting homes and the timeline for delivery. The government has said that 60% of the homes built under the programme will be for social rent, a figure that falls short of a previous call by Prime Minister Andy Burnham for the entire programme to be spent on social homes.
Burnham, who has been a prominent advocate for social housing, appeared to backtrack on that pledge when the details were published. The small print of the housing plan shows that homes will not have to be delivered until 2039, and the funding has been backloaded to fall outside the Spending Review and this parliament. Critics argue this means the current government will not have to account for the full cost, leaving future governments to cover the bill.
“Social homes are much more expensive to deliver than affordable homes. So again, we need to see the plans, exactly what that distribution will be and how much it’s going to cost,” said a spokesperson for the opposition. They also noted that the number of new homes being delivered, net new additions, has dropped by about 15% since Labour took office, despite the party’s promises to boost housing supply.
The tungsten mine investment is part of a wider strategy to use the National Wealth Fund to support industrial projects deemed vital to national security and economic resilience. The mine, which sits on the outskirts of Plymouth, has been closed for several years, and the restart is expected to create hundreds of jobs in the region. Healey’s comments underline the government’s framing of industrial policy as a response to geopolitical instability, with tungsten used in armour-piercing munitions, cutting tools, and nuclear reactor components.
The housing and mining announcements come as the government seeks to balance its economic agenda with defence priorities. While the tungsten investment has been broadly welcomed by industry groups, the housing plan has become a flashpoint for political debate, with questions over whether the government is truly committed to delivering social housing at scale or merely deferring costs to future parliaments.
