Labour is on course to miss its flagship manifesto pledge to build 1.5m homes by the next election because the war in Iran has pushed up the cost of bricks, it can be revealed.
Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have been urged to urgently offer government funding to the UK’s brick production industry or else risk its target “crumbling to dust”, according to unions.
The crisis-hit Prime Minister is already under fire from MPs and unions over the slow pace of delivery nearly two years after being elected.
But the soaring cost of energy due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, caused by the Iran conflict, means UK brick producers are struggling, which is in turn slowing housebuilding.
Industrial gas prices were three times higher last month than they were in 2023.
