Immigration demanded the equivalent of one in three new homes built during Labour‘s first year in office, a damning new analysis shows.
Net migration stood at 204,000 people in the year to June while only 237,630 new homes were completed.
With an average household made up of 2.36 people, new immigrants would require the equivalent of 86,441 of the newly-built properties, or just over 36 per cent, a Conservative study said.
The Conservatives said the figures revealed ‘the full scale of Labour’s housing crisis’ and that the Government had ‘failed to build anywhere near enough homes to match the levels of immigration they have allowed in their first year’.
Calculations by the Opposition indicate the problem will deepen by 2030.
By then, the equivalent of 50 per cent of new homes constructed will be required to accommodate newly-arrived migrants.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘Labour have opened the door to record immigration without any plan to deal with the consequences.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said ‘British families are paying the price’ for Labour’s failures on immigration and housing policy
Passengers at the UK Border gates at Heathrow airport
‘They let numbers surge, they let removals collapse, and now British families are paying the price in higher rents, longer waiting lists and fewer homes.’
He added: ‘This is the cost of Labour’s failure, but the Conservatives will not stand by while fairness is torn up.
‘Through our borders plan, we will leave the European Convention on Human Rights, remove all illegal immigrants within a week of arrival, end the merry-go-round of appeals – then the crossings will stop.
‘But Keir Starmer doesn’t have the backbone to do this, and Reform are a one-man band with no detailed plans.’
Shadow Housing Secretary Sir James Cleverly said: ‘Labour’s first year has shown they cannot build the homes Britain needs, let alone keep pace with the pressures their own immigration policy has created.
‘The Conservatives have set out a plan that tackles the problem at both ends.
‘We will curb the pressures driving demand, scrap Stamp Duty to get the market moving, and free up the homes families need.
‘That is how we restore fairness and give people a real path to ownership.’
The Tories’ analysis was based on government housing supply data, Office for National Statistics net migration figures and Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast showing net migration will add more than 1.76million people to the UK population by 2030.
It means 749,250 additional homes will be required, which at current rates will be the equivalent of 52 per cent of new housebuilding.
Increased construction rates forecast by the OBR would see that figure fall to 50 per cent, the Opposition said.
Its analysis added that the average house price in the UK would increase by more than £14,000 as a result of increased demand due to immigration.
The increase – without taking other inflationary pressures into account – would be from today’s £272,000 average to an estimated £286,000 by 2030.
A Tory spokesman said young families would ‘watch the ladder rise faster than they can climb it’.
The spokesman added: ‘This is the pattern of Labour’s first year. Open borders, record pressure on housing, and no plan to build enough homes.
‘British families are pushed further down waiting lists, rents rise, prices rise, and the gap between supply and demand widens with every passing month.’
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has pledged a binding annual cap on inward immigration as part of a major set of changes to Britain’s border controls.
Labour’s general election manifesto in 2024 promised: ‘Labour will get Britain building again, creating jobs across England, with 1.5 million new homes over the next parliament.’
A Labour party spokesman said: ‘This is a bit rich. Since the Tories left office Labour has cut legal migration by two thirds and house building has become a top priority for the government.
‘They are right that fixing the problems they left us is difficult, but Labour is getting on with the job.’