The prime minister said his decision to effectively ditch local housing targets was taken after “thousands” of Conservative counsellors and activists raised concerns.

Rishi Sunak, in an interview with the Conservative Home website published today, said he spent the summer speaking to party members when on the leadership election campaign trail last summer.

He said: “What I heard consistently, particularly from our councillors and our members, was what they didn’t want was a nationally-imposed top-down set of targets telling them what to do.