No government in half a century has built 300,000 homes every year, but that’s what Labour wants to do now

Labour is changing the way sites for new homes are chosen. Francesco Scatena

The election of the Labour government has been accompanied by a renewed appetite to deal with England’s housing crisis. Among the first of its policy initiatives, announced by deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, is the reintroduction of a national housing target – 1.5 million new homes over the period of the five-year parliament.

This target is only for England – the other UK nations have devolved powers over their housing totals – and includes privately-built housing as well as “affordable homes”.