The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) has welcomed the focus on housing numbers in the Labour party's recent manifesto.

If elected, Labour has promised to build 200,000 homes per year by 2020. The manifesto also includes a promise to provide up to 230,000 jobs in construction.

Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB, said: "By comparing this Labour manifesto with the last, you can see how far the debate on housing has come in the past five years.

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"Although the Labour Party’s 2010 manifesto placed a clear emphasis on the importance of increasing home ownership and providing better, more affordable housing, this manifesto explicitly recognises that building more homes is the only route to achieving this."

Mr Berry went further, stating that he was particularly pleased to see the importance of small house builders being recognised.

He said: "More active SME house builders will guarantee a healthier and more diverse house building market. Labour have committed to improving the flow of finance to small house builders which is crucial to achieving this."

Labour has also promised to give councils more power to charge higher rates of council tax on empty properties, also ensuring new homes are advertised in the UK first and not overseas.

(LM)