Keir Starmer's plans to build 1.5 million new homes before the next election have been hit by a new blow as the UK faces a shortage of scaffolders.
At least 6,000 new scaffolders are needed each month to keep to Labour's building targets and to replace retiring workers, according to the National Access and Scaffolding Confederation (NASC).
Housebuilding will need to reach levels not seen in more than 50 years in order to fulfil the ambitious quota, bringing with it a need for more skilled workers from an already shrinking pool.
Labour vowed ahead of the general election to overhaul the planning system, and build 1.5 million new homes across the UK over the course of a parliament.
NASC's chief executive Clive Dickin said 'talent is a real problem', and forewarned a housebuilding crisis as seven per cent of the skilled workforce are expected to retire by 2029.
There are less than 34,000 scaffolders working in the UK today, according to data provider Ibis World.
The dwindling numbers of skilled workers places further pressure on Sir Keir, who pledged to build 300,000 new homes a year - and against a backdrop of widespread labour shortages across the UK's construction industry.
David Parry, a senior parliamentary and public affairs officer at the Chartered Institute of Building, told The Daily Telegraph: 'The shortage of scaffolders is a prime example of the skills and worker shortages being faced across every aspect of the construction industry.
Sir Keir Starmer (pictured today in Downing Street) vowed ahead of the general election to overhaul the planning system, and build 1.5 million new homes across the UK over the course of a parliament
'We have long said these shortages will most certainly impact delivery of the Government's housing and infrastructure targets'.
A spokesman said the Government was 'taking decisive action to tackle years of underinvestment in skills by investing £625million to attract and train the next generation of construction workers, including scaffolders'.
This comes as the Government faces growing pressures in London amid a collapse in housebuilding in the capital, prompting the drawing up of emergency plans last year.
Housing Secretary Steve Reed and Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan drafted the emergency reforms last October, which included reducing the percentage of affordable homes required for a site from 35 per cent to 20 per cent.
This included developers being promised a fast-tracked application if they agreed to build 20 per cent of affordable housing in their plans.
Sir Sadiq's proposals have faced criticism from builders, who deem them - and the required speed of building - unrealistic.
Lord Bailey of Paddington, who is the housing representative for City Hall Conservatives, has called for the minister to 'confirm' his 'intention to see [the reforms] through'.
In the letter seen by The Daily Telegraph, Lord Bailey said: 'We want to see houses built in London, because every delay is another family left in temporary accommodation or struggling under sky-high housing costs.
Sir Sadiq Khan (pictured) drafted emergency housebuilding reforms last October amid a collapse in housebuilding in the capital
At least 6,000 new scaffolders are needed each month to keep to Labour's building targets and to replace retiring workers
'Arguing about the percentage of houses which are subsided is worthless if nothing happens - 100 per cent of nothing is nothing.'
As part of the 1.5 million house target, Labour pledged to build 88,000 homes a year in London.
However the capital faces its own crisis, as housebuilding in London fell by 84 per cent since 2015.
Work began on only 5,547 homes in 2025 by the private sector, according to figures from Molior.
The research also revealed only 18,326 homes are set to be completed in London by the end of the year.
This follows Sir Sadiq's commentary in 2016 that London needed to build more than 66,000 new homes per year to meet demand, and more than half of the houses should be affordable.
A spokesman from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: 'We have inherited a housing crisis, and while this won't happen overnight, we are focused on getting spades in the ground to build 1.5 million homes.
'That's why we are taking decisive action to tackle years of underinvestment in skills by investing £625million to attract and train the next generation of construction workers, including scaffolders.'
The Mayor's office has been contacted for comment.
