Tories Pledge 1980s-Style Housing Revolution

A 1980s-style housing "revolution" doubling the number of first-time buyers by 2020 has been pledged by the Tories, if they are elected.

The plan would mean half a million people a year getting their feet on the housing ladder, George Osborne said.

Labour claims Britain's chronic housing shortage is being fuelled by coalition schemes such as Help to Buy and no action is being taken to boost supply.

Ed Miliband's party unveiled plans on Saturday to take the new ISA scheme for first-time buyers announced in the Budget and use it to finance wide-scale house building.

Speaking on Sky News' Murnaghan programme, Mr Osborne said: "We do need to build more homes. We need to make sure all those brownfields in our cities and towns are being used for that purpose."

And he pointed to government help being provided to assist people onto the housing ladder, including the new ISA where savings are topped up for a deposit.

Mr Osborne also revealed more than 50,000 people had registered for a scheme offering cut-price homes for first-time buyers.

And a future Tory government would extend the existing Help to Buy scheme in England, which helps those struggling to raise a deposit.

He said: "I am a great believer in a home owning nation, a home owning democracy where families can get on the housing ladder."

Mr Osborne has said as many as one million people would enjoy direct government help to purchase properties over the next parliament.

"I think we can deliver a revolution in home ownership," the Chancellor said.

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"In the next parliament I would like to see over a million more people helped into home ownership by a Conservative government.

"I would like to see us double the number of first-time buyers up to half a million. That is the kind of level we saw in the 1980s.

"There is no reason why our country can't achieve that again."

Since 2010 there have been 1.2 million first-time purchases and Mr Osborne wants at least 2.4 million more over the next five years

Shadow housing minister Emma Reynolds said: "More warm words on housing from the Chancellor will be cold comfort to the record number of young people and families priced out of home ownership over the past five years.

"Under this Tory-led government we've seen the lowest levels of housebuilding in peacetime since the 1920s and home ownership has fallen to a 30-year low.

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"Labour's Better Plan will ensure Britain builds the homes working people need.

"Labour will get at least 200,000 homes built a year by 2020, backed by a comprehensive plan - the first in a generation - and a £5bn Future Homes Fund to support the building of homes for first-time buyers."

The Tory pledge came as a YouGov poll for the Sunday Times showed the party overtaking Labour to move into a one point lead by 34% to 33%.

But Opinium research for The Observer had the Conservatives down one point on 33%, level-pegging with Labour (unchanged), while UKIP was up one point on 14% .

Liberal Democrats were down one on 7%, Greens were unchanged on 7% and the Scottish National Party were up one on 4%.

In a dramatic development on Saturday, an inquiry was ordered into the leak of a UK Government account of a private meeting between SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon and the French ambassador.

The Daily Telegraph published the diplomatic memo which suggested she had indicated that she would prefer to see Conservatives remain in power after the 7 May General Election.

Ms Sturgeon complained of a "dirty tricks" attempt to halt the party's advance.

She said it was "100% untrue" that she had expressed such a preference - a denial backed by French diplomats at the meeting.

But the memo was seized on by Labour leader Ed Miliband as a "damning revelation" of the SNP leader's true views.