Shadow housing minister Emma Reynolds claimed yesterday that Labour would create nearly a quarter of million construction jobs through its house-building plan.

She predicted that her party's pledge to build 200,000 homes a year by 2020 if it wins in 2015 could provide employment for 230,000 people.

"The next Labour government will make house-building a priority and play its full part in delivering the scale of change that we need," she told the National House Building Council.