POOR families are being “socially cleansed” from Britain’s biggest cities because of the Tory housing crisis, Jeremy Corbyn warned yesterday.

The Labour leader said people living in privately rented homes are being forced out of their communities as a consequence of government’s failure to regulate landlords.

He spoke of the growing “unfairness” under the Tories as he launched the party’s campaign for elections being held in Scotland, Wales and English county boroughs on May 5. 

Speaking in Harlow, Essex, he said: “We have to have a vision on housing and it’s Labour that has that vision — they want to sell off, we want to build.

“They want to decant, we want to keep communities together. There is a very big difference between those two philosophies.”

Labour’s Sadiq Khan also put housing the centre of his campaign to become London mayor yesterday by making a visit to Henry Prince Estate in Tooting where he grew up.

His campaign revealed new research which shows the average deposit for a home in London — now £108,813 — is bigger than the average cost of buying a flat outright in a third of England.

“I will be the council estate boy who fixes the Tory housing crisis,” vowed Mr Khan.

“This election is not just a referendum on the Tory housing crisis — it is a referendum on the type of homes we build in London.”

He announced plans to build homes for social rent as well as the introduction of a new London living rent — a level equivalent to a third of local income.

A new poll for LBC/ITV gave Mr Khan a 55 to 45 point lead over millionaire Tory rival Zac Goldsmith.