The UK has suffered the biggest economic shock in peacetime, due to Covid 19. After the destruction of the Second World War, a Labour government rebuilt our economy through focusing on health, housing and education.

We can build our way to economic recovery, through the housing and construction industry, that relies heavily on a domestic supply chain.

The UK is short of housing across every tenure; however, there is also a need for housing renewal and regeneration in our former industrial communities.

The construction industry can support and sustain millions of jobs, and should be the foundation of our recovery.

The need for housing renewal and regeneration is acute in our area, none more so than Horden, where the collapse of a social housing provider has seen an influx of absentee private landlords that have no interest in our community.

I want the government to place housing front and centre of our economic recovery, and utilise the opportunities available in Horden.

With that in mind, I have written to the Housing Minister, making the case for housing investment, regeneration and regulation in Horden.