The National Federation of Builders (NFB) has welcomed Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s first policy commitments, saying construction will play a central role in delivering plans for council housebuilding, public procurement reform and ending rough sleeping.

Burnham has taken office promising to “make politics work” and announced that his first instruction in office will be to end rough sleeping across the UK as part of a wider programme to rebuild the country.

The new Prime Minister said a 10-year national plan will be published later this year, with priorities including increased council housebuilding, greater use of public procurement to support British industry, education reform, wider nationalisation and further devolution of powers to local communities.

Downing Street

He is also expected to announce a costed package of measures on 21 July aimed at addressing the cost-of-living crisis.

Responding to the announcement, the National Federation of Builders said the construction sector would be critical to delivering many of the Government’s ambitions.

Richard Beresford, Chief Executive of the National Federation of Builders, said: “The new PM’s speech was on the money and the NFB wholeheartedly backs his plans for reindustrialisation, more council housing, using public procurement to back British industry and ending rough sleeping.

“Construction will be integral in achieving his ambitions and we hope to see a repetition of the Northwest procurement process where regional players training, retaining and investing locally are understood as key to a strong region and healthy community.”

The federation also highlighted housing policy as a key area where further reform could support both economic growth and efforts to tackle homelessness.

Rico Wojtuleiwcz, the NFB’s director of policy and market insight, said Greater Manchester’s approach to regional growth demonstrated the value of long-term, pragmatic policymaking and suggested similar thinking could be applied to housing delivery.

He said: “The success of Greater Manchester examples the pragmatism that has made the region so attractive to global investors, regional migration and organic growth.

“We hope that this pragmatism also extends into addressing the housing crisis, particularly as PM Burnham historically praised Finland’s Housing First model as key to ending rough sleeping.

“What many do not discuss is that most of Finland’s Housing First funding is spent on low interest rate, government backed loans for homebuyers and builders. Should their successful strategy be replicated in the UK, we would see a new Help to Buy variant with broader reach.

“We would also see the UK’s broken affordable housing model replaced, in favour of institutions and the market delivering low rent housing for fixed periods, for example 25 years. This is the pragmatism and circuit breaker the UK housing crisis desperately needs.”

The NFB said it would continue to engage with the Government as details of the 10-year strategy emerge, particularly around housing delivery, procurement reform and measures designed to support long-term investment in the construction industry.