Housing Minister Kris Hopkins has denied that his Government has sunk house building to the “lowest levels in peacetime since the 1920s”.

Labour staged a Commons debate to highlight how the Government had “refused to take the action needed” to tackle a gathering crisis.

It said only one-third of the new houses that Yorkshire badly needs were built in 2012/13 – a shortfall of almost 14,000 homes. But Mr Hopkins, the Keighley MP, accused Labour of “taking the livelihoods of 250,000 construction workers”, during the recession. The Conservative Minister added: “Even in the boom years they failed to deliver the housing that was required.

“The total build dropped to the lowest numbers in a hundred years. They promoted eco towns – ten of them in total – and not one appeared. Under this Government, come 2015 there will be more social housing and we can be extremely proud of that.”