John Prescott said yesterday that the government has begun a review of its programme of selling off land in an attempt to help solve the crisis over affordable housing.

The deputy prime minister told the Times it was “crazy” for government departments to sell off their own landholdings to developers to build luxury homes and later shell out subsidies to pay for affordable housing projects.

Speaking from MIPIM, the international property conference, Prescott said: “We tend to give land away sometimes. We need to make changes there, to make sure we get a bit back on the land values.”