Greens say Labour should focus more on building council homes and that new housing plan is flawed – as it happened

5.30pm BST

Afternoon summary

• Councils in England could be forced to build on low-quality green belt sites to meet mandatory housebuilding targets as part of a government shake-up of planning rules.

• The Electoral Commission has been reprimanded over online security lapses that allowed the personal information of 40 million voters to be hacked.

• Rachel Reeves has accused Jeremy Hunt of lying about the state of the public finances, escalating a row with the Conservatives over claims they left a £22bn shortfall.

• Keir Starmer has visited Southport, where he thanked emergency workers who responded to the knife attack yesterday in which three young girls were killed. There is more coverage of this on our separate live blog.

5.17pm BST

Jason Groves from the Daily Mail has been looking in detail at the housing targets the government might set for some local authorities under the new system announced by Angela Rayner. (See 1.10pm.)

Eye-popping new housing targets published by Angela Rayner for some parts of the country. Fareham, in Hampshire (local MP Suella Braverman), currently builds 115 new homes a year, and will be ordered to up this to 794 - a near sevenfold increase

— Jason Groves (@JasonGroves1) July 30, 2024

Eye-popping new housing targets published by Angela Rayner for some parts of the country. Fareham, in Hampshire (local MP Suella Braverman), currently builds 115 new homes a year, and will be ordered to up this to 794 - a near sevenfold increase