Tackling inflation is critical to the implementation of our housing plan - Michael Gove

In the months that I have been in this role we have been developing, and implementing, just such a plan.

Our long-term plan has 10 principles. The regeneration and renaissance of the hearts of 20 of our most important towns and cities. Supercharging Europe’s science capital. Building beautiful – and making architecture great again. Building great public services into the heart of every community.

Communities taking back control of their future. Greener homes, greener landscapes and green belt protection. A new deal for tenants and landlords. Ensuring that every home is safe, decent and warm. Liberating leaseholders. And extending ownership to a new generation.

Our long-term plan for housing comes at a critical moment for the housing market. We have a record of delivery. We have built more homes over our time in office than Labour did under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

In this Parliament we have delivered the highest number of new homes in a year for three decades, and we’ve ensured the highest number of first time buyers in two decades. And we will meet our manifesto target of delivering one million new homes in this Parliament.

Not only that but our £11.5bn Affordable Homes Programme is delivering well over a hundred thousand affordable homes – and we are scaling up to deliver tens of thousands of new homes specifically for social rent.

But we know that there are immediate challenges to future growth. Across the developed world, there are economic pressures. And there is therefore a need for radical action to unlock the supply of new homes.

In every western country inflation is a barrier to building. Inflation has pushed up the price of materials, it has required interest rates to rise, it has squeezed access to credit and, with tight labour markets across the West, construction has everywhere become more difficult. But construction is more necessary than ever. So tackling inflation is critical to the implementation of our plan.

The steps the Prime Minister and the Chancellor have taken to control public spending and borrowing, and our broader fiscal and monetary strategy, are working. Inflation is coming down. But we need to maintain that discipline.

And underpinning our long-term plan for economic recovery is a long-term plan for housing.

The first, and most important, component of that plan is our programme of urban regeneration and a new inner city renaissance.

Renaissance – because we want to ensure our cities have all the ingredients for success that we identified in our Levelling-Up White Paper last year as the Medici model.

An adapted Speech by Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.