Shadow housing minister Emma Reynolds claimed yesterday that Labour would create nearly a quarter of million construction jobs through its house-building plan.

She predicted that her party's pledge to build 200,000 homes a year by 2020 if it wins in 2015 could provide employment for 230,000 people.

"The next Labour government will make house-building a priority and play its full part in delivering the scale of change that we need," she told the National House Building Council.

The plan includes measures to encourage small developers and self-builders alongside a massive increase in council homes.

Ms Reynolds said she wanted to "assemble an army of smaller firms and custom builders to tackle the housing crisis."

Construction union Ucatt leader Steve Murphy said Labour had "grasped the nettle that investment in housing, especially council housing is the best possible way to boost the construction industry and create jobs."

Ms Reynolds said Labour's Build First scheme would match the "post-war zeal" for house building shown by Clement Attlee's government.

But she insisted measures to support small firms and promote the growth of custom-build homes would "deliver quality" as well as numbers.

That includes guaranteeing small firms are given access to public land earmarked for housing and a requirement on local authorities to offer more small plots.

Ms Reynolds said she would also ask lenders to provide mortgages for custom-build homes that can be sold at 20 per cent less than market rates.

The Federation of Master Builders said the measures would help small firms squeezed out of building over the past 25 years.

Chief executive Brian Berry said: "Any political party serious about tackling the housing crisis needs to get small house builders back into the market."

Ms Reynolds has said Labour's plans include replacing the council homes flogged off cheaply under Thatcher's right-to-buy ruse.

Defend Council Housing chairwoman Eileen Short told the Star: "Without council housing we're not going to get the homes that we need.

"The private sector is not building and no amount of tinkering and incentives is going to do that so we have to build council housing."