Andy Burnham has promised a major expansion of council housebuilding to tackle high rents and a social-housing waiting list of more than 1.3 million households. The article argues that delivering this ambition will be difficult because the wider government target of 1.5 million homes before the next election is already behind schedule, while construction costs and labour shortages constrain development.

It links some of these pressures to Brexit, citing an estimated loss of over 200,000 construction workers and higher material costs than in the EU. Savills expects about 840,000 homes to be under construction by mid-2029, while the government’s £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme aims to provide around 300,000 properties; council homes, which are locally owned and typically rented at about half market rates, remain a distinct challenge.