Alan Milburn has called on Labour to become the party of home ownership.

Staking a claim for a central plank of Tory philosophy he said the government must look beyond social housing.

In his first major speech since taking the job, Milburn said that equality and social mobility should be the focus of a third Labour term in office.

The move came as the deputy prime minister announced a further £100 million in funding to develop the Thames Gateway.

Meanwhile it has emerged that Eurostat is to include house prices in its measure of inflation for the first time.