The Labour party has pledged to “embark on the biggest home building programme in half a century”, leader Jeremy Corbyn said yesterday.

Speaking at the party’s conference in Liverpool, Corbyn made the statement as part of a “radical plan to rebuild and transform our country”.

The Labour leader also reiterated a pledge from shadow housing minister John Healey to place a levy on those with second homes. “Think of it as a solidarity fund for those with two homes to help those without any home at all”, he said, having told the conference that one in five homes in England were now unfit for human habitation, with 120,000 children living in temporary accommodation.

Corbyn said that Labour’s programme of "investment and transformation" to achieve a 60% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 would create more than 400,000 skilled jobs.