Under new proposals by Government, Councils will be handed new powers to fund and manage their own council homes, free from Whitehall interference.

Housing Minister John Healy has suggested dismantling the current Housing Revenue Account System of funding council housing. And in doing so, he is offering local government the very control of the system that town halls have demanded for decades.

Mr Healey explained that his plan, which will now go out to consultation, would also free up sufficient funding – through streamlined processes and the redistribution of cash within the existing system – for councils to build 10,000 new council homes every year under a Labour government.