Philip Hammond prepares last week for a budget that some Conservative MPs believe his job depends on

Philip Hammond will use the budget this week to announce plans to build 300,000 homes every year — the equivalent of a city the size of Leeds.

The chancellor has revealed that he will unveil billions of pounds of extra investment, plus new powers and planning rules to ensure construction firms start building on sites that already have planning permission.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Hammond said the government would stage an “intervention” because the market for developed land “is broken” with 270,000 unbuilt residential planning permissions in London alone.

Hammond vowed to do “whatever it takes” to get builders building and pledged that “the next generation will have the same opportunities as their parents to own a home ”.

The chancellor