Ed Balls MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, commenting on David Cameron’s announcement about Help to Buy, said:

“If David Cameron is serious about helping first time buyers he should be bringing forward investment to build more affordable homes. Rising demand for housing must be matched with rising supply, but under this government housebuilding is at its lowest level since the 1920s.

"Unless David Cameron acts now to build more affordable homes, as Labour has urged, then soaring prices risk making it even harder for first time buyers to get on the housing ladder. You can’t deal with the cost of living crisis without building more homes, so it’s no wonder that for millions of families this is no recovery at all.

"The Bank of England should immediately review the details of the scheme now before they are set in stone, rather than wait a year. For instance, why has George Osborne decided that a scheme which should be about helping first time buyers will allow taxpayer backed mortgages for homes worth up to £600,000?”