Housing Secretary Steve Reed has criticised the Green Party for its call to abolish private landlords, questioning how homes would be provided under such a proposal.

Speaking to the New Statesman, Mr Reed said he had not previously heard of the Greens’ stance, asking: “If you abolish landlords, then where are you going to get the homes from? Or have the Greens got a magic money tree and they are going to build all the homes out of nothing?”

At its autumn conference, the Green Party passed a motion to “seek the effective abolition of private landlordism,” claiming that “the existence of private landlords adds no positive value to the economy.”

The interviewer challenged Mr Reed, suggesting that landlords do not build homes but simply own and rent them out, arguing that this represents “economic distribution in the wrong direction.”

Mr Reed rejected that view, saying people value the option to rent:  “There are reasons and times in people’s lives when we want different options. I think somebody offering you a product that you want to pay for — in that case a flat — at a price you are happy with, is a good thing, and I don’t see why you’d want to ban that.”

He added that his focus is on tackling exploitation in the sector, not abolishing it: “I’d like to stop exploitation where you have people paying an already agreed rent increase, having to pay more mid-year. But abuses like that we’re changing through the Renters’ Rights Act.”