A lack of skilled construction labour and product manufacturing capacity may hold back Keir Starmer’s plan to build 1.5m homes over the next five years, a respected economist has warned.

Noble Francis, economics director at the Construction Products Association, said the government is likely to be hoping for a steady trajectory in increasing housebuilding to just over 380,000 homes by the fifth year of the parliament. This means housebuilding needs to increase by 60% as there were 234,400 net additions to the housing stock in England last year, once conversions are included.