Prime minister Boris Johnson has confirmed plans which will allow homebuyers on lower wages to use housing benefit - currently amounting to £30m per year - towards their mortgage.

Giving a speech in Blackpool today, Johnson said: "We're going to look to change the rules on welfare, so 1.5 million working people who are in receipt of housing benefits, I stress working people, and want to buy their first home will be given a new choice: to spend their benefit on rent as now, or put it towards a first ever mortgage."

"Doing so removes a significant barrier that currently prevents hundreds of thousands of families from buying their own home."

He also said "we're going to explore discounting Lifetime and Help to Buy ISA savings from Universal Credit eligibility rules".

In addition, a mortgage review, to be published this autumnn, looking at how low-deposit mortgages could be extended. Johnson also confirmed an extension to Right to Buy rules, giving thousands of households in housing association properties the right to purchase their home at a discounted price.

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