Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to build 1.5m new homes and a new generation of large-scale new towns.

He said Labour would clear planning logjams and speed up National Grid expansion to deliver renewable energy.

In his pitch to become the next Prime Minister, he said Labour would pave the way for a “decade of national renewal” in his speech to the annual conference in Liverpool.

While there were few big new policies launched he told the Labour conference: “No more land banking. No more inertia in the face of resistance. A future must be built: that is the responsibility of serious government.

“It’s time to build 1.5 million new homes across the country… new infrastructure, roads, tunnels and power stations,” Starmer says.

“It’s a future with more beautiful cities, more prosperous towns, new parks and green spaces… Sometimes the old Labour ideas are right for new times.”

“We’ll get shovels in the ground, cranes in the sky, and build the next generation of Labour new towns.”