Parents should disinherit their children and instead leave their homes and wealth to their grandchildren to help young people to get on to property ladder, the housing minister has said.

Gavin Barwell urged pensioners to consider skipping a generation when it comes to inheritance as he revealed that his mother will leave her estate and £750,000 home to his sons.

Mr Barwell, who took over the housing and planning brief in the summer, said that the suggestion would help ease the housing crisis and combat inter-generational unfairness.

Theresa May has put help for first- time buyers at the heart of her vision for Britain and warned that the housing market is “dysfunctional”.