Chancellor Rachel Reeves has confirmed a raft of measures to tackle the ‘desperate lack of affordable housing' including reform of the Right to Buy scheme.

Reeves told Parliament the Government will reduce Right to Buy discounts and enable councils to keep all the receipts generated by sales to boost social housing stock.

Since the Right to Buy scheme was introduced in 1980, the stock of council housing has decreased from 5.1 million to 1.6 million.

Promising to ‘get Britain building again', Reeves confirmed the Affordable Homes Programme would receive a £500m boost, bringing its annual budget to £3.1bn to help deliver 5,000 social homes.

Reeves said there would be a consultation on a five-year social housing rent settlement, which would increase in line with the Consumer Prices Index measurement of inflation, plus 1%. 

The Government will also consult on a 10-year settlement, which the Local Government Association has said was needed to provide stability to Housing Revenue Accounts.

Reeves confirmed £46m to train planning officers, £233m to go towards tackling homelessness and £1bn to accelerate the removal of dangerous cladding on homes following the Grenfell Tower Inquiry report.