Jeremy Corbyn renews calls to seize empty homes for Grenfell Tower victims

Jeremy Corbyn has renewed calls for the Government to seize empty houses in London to house residents of Grenfell Tower.

He urged the Government to consider requisitioning or using compulsory purchase orders for flats that are deliberately kept vacant, in a process known as landbanking.

The Labour leader also criticised the official response to the tragedy, saying people should have been offered immediate accommodation

Mr Corbyn told ITV's Peston on Sunday: "There are a large number of deliberately kept vacant flats and properties all over London - it's called landbanking. People with a lot of money buy a house, buy a flat, keep it empty.

"Occupy it, compulsively purchase it, requisition it, there's a lot of things you can do.

"It's all very well putting our arms round people during the crisis, but homelessness is rising, the housing crisis is getting worse. And my point was quite a simple one, in an emergency, you have to bring all assets to the table in order to deal with that crisis."

Mr Corbyn also defended Theresa May, who has come under criticism for her response to the tragedy, saying: "I think everybody cares to an extent, some to a deeper extent and some show empathy in a different way to others.

"But the real issue is not about what we as individuals feel, Theresa May, me, anybody else, it's what those people are going through."