UK Labour leadership contender Emily Thornberry has laid out her housing policy, vowing to seize empty homes and property if she becomes Labour leader.

The shadow foreign secretary told BBC Two’s Victoria Derbyshire if a privately owned property is left vacant for too long, then her government will claim it as their own.

“If you leave a flat empty and you’re not using it then you will lose it,” Thornberry said.

Derbyshire, visibly surprised by Thornberry’s admission, went on to ask, “What? You mean, you’ll just take it off someone who’s bought it?”

“Yes,” Thornberry replied. “They would need to justify why it’s been empty for the amount of time that it has.”

Thornberry, who owns at least three houses, hopes her radical, socialist housing policy would tackle homelessness and end the current “housing crisis.”

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