Javid: We’ll borrow billions to build homes Britain needs

THE Government could borrow billions of pounds to invest in hundreds of thousands of new homes, the Local Government Secretary has suggested.

Sajid Javid unveiled plans to take advantage of record-low interest rates to end the housing crisis, which he said represented the “biggest barrier to social progress in our country today”.

The Daily Telegraph understands ministers are examining plans that would result in the Government directly commissioning small and medium-sized developers. The move would effectively make the Government one of the nation’s biggest housebuilders in an attempt to kick-start the housing market and break the monopoly of large developers.

Ministers believe that the plans would be “fiscally neutral” because the Government would recoup any investment when the properties are sold by developers.

Mr Javid suggested that the policy would help the Government build 300,000 homes a year, a third more than at present, and would appear in the Budget. Asked whether Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, backs the policy Mr Javid said: “Let’s wait and see what happens in the Budget.”

He told The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One: “I’m sure at the Budget, we’ll be covering housing but what I want to do is make sure that we’re using everything

‘You borrow more to invest in the infrastructure that leads to more housing, using record-low interest rates’

we have available to deal with this housing crisis.

“And where that means, so for example, that we can sensibly – you borrow more to invest in the infrastructure that leads to more housing – take advantage of some of the record-low interest rates that we have, I think we should absolutely be considering that.”

Mr Javid also suggested that the Government would not relax protections for the green belt.