£2bn for new wave We WILL introduce of council homes energy price cap

A NEW generation of council homes will be built to fix Britain’s ‘broken housing market’, Theresa May promised yesterday.

She announced a £2billion increase in the Government’s affordable housing budget of £2billion, taking it to more than £9billion.

This cash was originally set aside for housing associations but the Prime Minister said for the first time councils would be able to bid for it. She said the shortage of affordable homes had been a ‘disaster for young people’, admitting the election had shown the Tories had not done enough to tackle the problem.

But No10 officials later admitted the money would only fund the construction of 25,000 extra homes over the next four years.

Homelessness charity Shelter welcomed the move but said it was ‘only a fraction of the long-term investment needed’.

the energy price cap – a flagship policy from the tory manifesto in June – was revived yesterday.

the policy did not appear in the Queen’s Speech, sparking claims it had been ditched, but theresa May promised to introduce new legislation next week.

Pledging to help 12million customers, she told the conservative conference Britain’s energy market needed to be fixed.

the cap will apply to anyone on a standard variable tariff for their gas and electricity, which are much more expensive than fixedterm contracts, punishing those who do not switch.

Mrs May said: ‘the energy market punishes loyalty with higher prices, and the most loyal customers are often those with lower incomes and the elderly.’

ed Kamm, commercial officer at small energy firm First Utility, said: ‘time has finally been called on the Big Six’s behaviour.’

But business groups said the measure would stifle competition in the market, as share prices in major energy companies fell.