Labour’s Sir Kier Starmer has reconfirmed the party’s intention that Awaab’s Law will be ported across to the private rental sector with its measures of a far stricter timescale on urgent repairs carried out along with other issues.

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In his speech at the Chartered Institute of Housing, Starmer stated that there must more good quality housing for all types of tenure to become “the base camp for people to achieve their own aspiration, not the barrier that prevents people from reaching the summit”.

Starmer was the guest speaker at the institute’s presidential dinner and in his speech he said: “Look around the country. 140,000 children, that’s a record number, homeless in temporary accommodation. 1.6 million children living in freezing houses with mould on the wall or water leaking from the ceiling. Families cramped into unsuitable temporary accommodation.

“And there is a price to pay for every child who can’t fulfil their potential because they have no home to sleep in tonight. There is a cost to the country for every young person who won’t be able to live the life they deserve because they don’t have the housing that they need.”

As well as pledging to extend Awaab’s Law Starmer promised Labour will build 1.5m homes over a government term achieving an average of 300,000 newbuilds a year some of which will be in new towns, and first time buyers will be given precedence on new builds in their areas.

He also states that Labour will create a government-backed mortgage guarantee scheme.

Starmer told the institute: “We want to get Britain building because we know that the homes of today are the homes of tomorrow. We can’t build a future for our country unless we build the homes that make it possible for people to think about the future.”