The government has abandoned an algorithm that would have dramatically increased housebuilding in the Conservatives’ southern heartlands. England’s 20 biggest cities will instead take a much larger share of new homes under new plans drawn up by Robert Jenrick after a huge backlash from Conservative MPs.

The focus for housing numbers and affordable housing investment has switched to major cities in the North and Midlands. The previous plan, dubbed a “mutant algorithm” by one Tory MP, which would have concentrated housing in high value and rural areas in the South and South-east.

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