Reports that the Chancellor will find £5bn to tackle the housing crisis in the budget have been criticised by Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable as not going nearly far enough.

Vince Cable said:

“His own cabinet colleague Sajid Javid has said we need 10 times that amount to tackle the housing crisis. I would put it at more like 20 times that number.

“It is all very well re-hashing old announcements of 300,000 new homes a year. The public has grown understandably sceptical about these claims because the housing crisis grows ever worse, keeping young people off the housing ladder and out of even rented accommodation.

“Borrowing is still cheap and there is a golden opportunity in the budget to breathe energy into a flagging economy through investment while also giving people homes.

“There is also a massive labour shortage in the construction industry and with many Eastern European workers leaving the country due to the weakening pound and uncertainty over their rights to remain, it is also far from clear who will actually build these houses under current government policy.”