An open door policy to immigration from the European Union will exacerbate the housing crisis, a new report has warned.

The report, written by former minister Frank Field, warned that it will become “incredibly difficult” to meet the rising demand on homes that will result from population growth that is driven "almost exclusively" by immigration.

The Labour MP said: "The longer-term solution to the housing benefit crisis is almost too obvious to state. In normal circumstances it would be difficult to meet the existing demand for homes. It becomes incredibly difficult to do so if the government operates an open-door immigration policy within the EU."

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He added:

Our population growth is now being driven almost exclusively by immigration. For a host of reasons, and not simply to meet the housing demand, a future government must control our borders.

The report, published by think tank Civitas, also said that the only way to reduce the housing benefit budget is by increasing the supply of housing by initiating a national housebuilding programme, where tens of thousands of young benefit claimants should be trained as builders.

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The report comes the day after a study by the Resolution Foundation, which stated that almost half of people who don't own their own home believe they never will as the time needed to save for a deposit reaches 24 years.

Meanwhile, data released this month showed the UK house prices grew seven per cent in the year to October, the highest growth rate since March.