Labour says the Government is not going far enough with its clampdown on holiday lets, promising to go further if it gains power.

Ministers say they want to curb high numbers of lettings pricing local people out of the market, and a consultation from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is due to close on 7 June. It will also consider whether to give owners flexibility to let out their home for up to a specified number of nights in a calendar year without the need for planning permission.

But Shadow housing and planning spokesman Matthew Pennycock told a House of Commons debate that although Labour supports the planning reforms, the Government must ‘do more’. He added: “The package currently on offer from the Government still falls short of the comprehensive suite of measures that we would like to see enacted at pace to tackle this problem.”

He said Labour wants a discretionary licensing scheme to be introduced for holiday lets. “The more fundamental issue is the frankly glacial pace of the Government’s overall response to the challenges posed to communities across the country by the surge in short-term holiday lets.”