The chancellor Gordon Brown has reiterated his desire to increase home ownership in the UK. Speaking in Gloucester Brown said: “In the 1950s Harold Macmillan talked of a property owning democracy. Then only 30% of British people owned their own homes. By 2010 we believe that as a result of our measures up to 75% of British families could own their own homes.” Brown claimed that home ownership would be increased under Labour through measures such as using publicly owned land to subsidise the cost of new homes. “I propose that we conduct an in-depth examination of public sector assets to see which additional land could be made available for homebuilding,” he said. He added: “I propose we enter talks with the building industry as well as mortgage lenders and the banks to examine whether our shared equity offer can apply to newly built homes as well as existing homes.” (Guardian)