The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) has welcomed the Conservative Party's plans to tackle the UK's housing shortage in its general election manifesto.

In its manifesto, the party has pledged to build 1.5 million homes by the end of 2022, half a million more than a previous one million homes target by 2020.

Sarah McMonagle, Director of External Affairs at the FMB, said Prime Minister Theresa May must reverse the decline of SME house builders if she is to achieve her targets.

"The importance of addressing the country's chronic shortage of homes is as great as ever, and the Conservative Party's manifesto seems to appreciate the scale of the challenge ahead of us," she said.

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"A revised house building target of 1.5 million homes from 2015 to 2022 ups the ante on housing delivery again, but these ambitions can only be delivered with an accompanying focus on creating a more diverse and innovative house building sector.

"The decline in the number and output of smaller local house builders over the past few decades has led to the industry's capacity haemorrhaging. To deliver the PM's vision we will need to reverse this. The Manifesto's explicit pledge to diversify the delivery of new homes is therefore extremely welcome. Key to doing this will be being able to build on some of the sensible reforms outlined in the recent Housing White Paper, which we hope to see implemented."

To view the manifesto, visit here.

(LM)