John Healey MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, commenting on details in the Office for Budget Responsibility Report showing that measures announced in the Autumn Statement will mean 13,000 fewer affordable homes built by housing associations, said:

“These astonishing figures in the small-print of today’s official Office for Budget Responsibility report show that the overall effect of the Autumn Statement housing changes will be 13,000 fewer affordable homes.

“This blows a hole in the claims made by the Chancellor today. After we learnt last week that new affordable house building has fallen to its lowest level in 24 years, Ministers must now urgently sort out this mess and get Britain building again after six years of failure.”