Tory housebuilding can win back young voters

SIR – Margaret Thatcher used to say that the facts of life are Conservative. That is true if you are a homeowner. If you rent, the facts of life are socialist.

Unless the Government rapidly improves the possibility of house ownership for younger generations, it will lose the next election. Roger Helm

Doncaster, South Yorkshire

SIR – In 1952 my father sold 29 individual building plots for detached four-bedroom houses with good-sized gardens. They were £300 each.

After selling five he was able to buy a new Jaguar car. Today, if you can find an individual site in the same area, it will cost at least £200,000. One site would buy four new Jaguar cars. No wonder young people are finding it difficult to buy their first home. John Summers

Truro, Cornwall SIR – Successive governments have failed to build enough affordable housing.

A solution would be to erect prefabricated houses again. In Shepperton, Middlesex, there is a road of these. They were put up after the Second World War, and are still in constant use. While cheap, they are also attractive. Local authorities should get on with it. Roderick Archer

Weybridge, Surrey

SIR – Recent figures show that there were around 1.4 million empty homes in Britain at the beginning of 2017 – the highest figure ever – with around 20,000 in central London.

Wouldn’t it be a good idea to fill these up first before building any more? Duncan Rayner

Sunningdale, Berkshire