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As the Labour conference kicks off tomorrow, shadow housing minister Lucy Powell is making an eye-catching bid to steal the Tory mantle as the 'the party of home ownership'

Labour is vowing to give first-time buyers priority on new-build homes, stop foreign investors warping the market, and cut affordable rents as Keir Starmer tries to get his leadership back on track.

As the Labour conference kicks off tomorrow, shadow housing minister Lucy Powell is making an eye-catching bid to steal the Tory mantle as the 'the party of home ownership'.

She will promise that a government led by Sir Keir would tackle the 'outrageous' practice of overseas investors buying swathes of property off plan, imposing a limit of 50 per cent foreign ownership for any development.

Councils could also get powers to force landowners to sell vacant sites so new houses can be built at lower prices than currently possible.

Labour is pledging to close 'loopholes' that developers use to minimise the proportion of homes that are affordable.  

And the price of affordable rents could be limited to 30 per cent of average household income, allowing people to save more towards deposits.

In many places currently the definition of 'affordable rentals' includes properties available at up to 80 per cent of market rents. 

First-time buyers could also get 'first dibs' on new-builds - potentially for the first six months they are on sale. 

The package will not be fleshed out further until Ms Powell's speech next week. The Tories said it 'amounts to a series of rehashed and failed policies from Jeremy Corbyn or Sadiq Khan'.

But Labour sources said they are determined take the fight to Michael Gove – the newly-appointed secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities. 

Labour believes his decision to pause planning reforms amid a huge revolt by Tory MPs and voters in the shires has left the government vulnerable on the housing battleground - a key issue for many younger voters.

Ms Powell said: 'The country is facing a housing crisis with the link between hard work and getting on the housing ladder broken for many. 

Insecure tenancies, and expensive rents make it hard for people who play by the rules to get on in life. The challenges of affordability, an aging population, building safety and the climate emergency all mean we need a bold new approach. 

MS Powell will promise that a government led by Sir Keir would restrict the proportion of properties in a development that can be sold to overseas buyers to 50 per cent

Sir Keir looks to be facing a battle as he plans to use the conference in Brighton to show that Labour is ready to govern again

'We will build a new settlement on housing, with a first step today forcing developers to build more truly affordable homes, and giving first time buyers' first dibs on new developments so they can't just be sold off-plan to second homeowners or foreign investors.

'Labour is the party of home ownership, the Tories are the party of speculators and developers. The Conservatives' failures on housing today mean that they don't have the answers to solve the challenges of tomorrow. They treat housing as a commodity, not the bedrock of stable lives and life chances.' 

The proposals would see local authorities given the powers to make compulsory purchases of land at agricultural value, rather than having to factor in the prospect of future planning permission.

Labour believes that tweak would mean councils can buy more land and have more leverage in wrangles with developers.

The policy on foreign investors is a shift from the party's position at the 2019 election, when Jeremy Corbyn proposed a new tax on overseas buyers.

That manifesto also insisted first-time buyers would get 'first dibs' on new housing - but did not spell out how long for.. 

Sir Keir looks to be facing a battle as he plans to use the conference in Brighton to show that Labour is ready to govern again.

He has enraged left-wingers and unions by pushing to scrap the current 'one member, one vote' system for electing party leaders.

Instead he wants to return to a version of the old arrangements, where trade unions, MPs and party members each get a third of the voting power. Critics complain that probably would have meant Jeremy Corbyn losing in 2015.

London mayor Sadiq Khan Mr Khan yesterday dodged saying if he supported the changes, swiping that 'internal party rules isn't at the fore of my mind'.    

Meanwhile, there has been a less-than enthusiastic response to the leader's decision to pen a long-winded essay for the Fabian Society in an attempt to say what Labour should stand for.

One party figure from the moderate wing told MailOnline the 35-page pamphlet - which was earlier described as being 14,000 words long but in fact only includes 11,930 words written by Sir Keir himself - was a 'waste of time' and normal people would not engage with the content. 

'If ordinary voters suspected he was a weirdo before, now they know he is,' they said, adding gloomily: 'He'd be gone if he was leading the Tories, but there's no-one else.' 

Former Cabinet minister Lord Adonis said: 'When you haven't got anything new to say, it's best not to say it in 14,000 words.' 

In his essay, Sir Keir said he plans to turn Labour into 'Britain's bricks and mortar' as he set out his future vision for the party in a lengthy statement ahead of the party's conference.

Despite an internal civil war over the left-wing party's political leaning, Sir Keir laid out a clear roadmap towards the centre and away from radical Corbynite policies in his 35-page essay, 'The Road Ahead'. 

The Labour leader insisted the party cannot 'wait around for the public to decide we are right' and must instead grasp the opportunities the current political atmosphere provides. 

The opus has been seen as a bid to reset his leadership and craft an ambition for what Labour would look like in Government ahead of his first in-person appearance at a party conference as leader.

Cutting ties with the broad nationalisation policies that belittled ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's previous election bids, Sir Keir explained he wants his party to 'once again be Britain's bricks and mortar'.

Sir Keir wrote: 'People are no longer prepared to sit back while politicians shrug their shoulders.

'The future will belong to those who do not just mitigate against change but grasp the opportunities it provides.

'I want Labour to once again be Britain's bricks and mortar - a symbol of solidity, reliability, shelter and the prospect of building something new and better.

'To do that, our party must have a relentless focus on the challenges and opportunities of the future and how they can be shaped to the interest of working people.'

Sir Keir set out 10 principles that would form the basis of a new contract between Labour and the British people.

Cutting ties with the broad nationalisation policies that belittled ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's previous election bids, Sir Keir explained he wants his party to 'once again be Britain's bricks and mortar'

At its heart was what he dubbed a 'contribution society', where everyone has a part to play.

And Sir Keir appeared to show a greater commitment to helping to energise the private sector, with his prospective government promising to 'be a partner to private enterprise, not stifle it.'

But despite the posturing, there are few if any references to any tangible policies the electorate could pin their hopes to in any future election. 

He wrote: 'People want to emerge from lockdown into something better.

'Our country is now at a crossroads: down one path is the same inequality of opportunity and insecurity.

'It is impossible to live in this moment and not feel the winds of changes blowing, just as they did in 1945 and 1997.

'The Labour path is about building a better future for working people.

'Labour will build a society that prizes the contributions people make, providing security and opportunity across Britain.'

A Labour source told the Guardian they believed the public 'were now willing to give Starmer a hearing', but warned his vision 'must be credible'.

They said: 'People believe Keir could be prime minister. It's the first time people have believed that about a Labour leader in a decade. 

'Now it's about showing them why he should be prime minister. 

Meanwhile, Sir Keir has run into trouble on another front after backing Scotland's controversial move to 'go soft' on drugs possession.

Drugs were effectively decriminalised north of the border earlier this week as prosecutors announced police would be advised to issue only a 'recorded police warning' to anyone in possession of drugs, including Class A heroin and cocaine.  

And the Labour leader suggested he would support the step in the rest of the UK, saying it was 'probably the right thing to do'.

However, his comments in an ITV interview were seized upon by Home Secretary Priti Patel who wrote on Twitter: 'Drugs devastate lives. They ruin communities and tear families apart.'

She added, in a twist on ex-PM Tony Blair's famous vote-winning 'tough on crime' slogan: 'Under Keir Starmer, Labour is weak on crime and weak on the causes of crime.' 

Pressed repeatedly on what he thought of the approach in Scotland - which has been backed by Scottish Labour - Sir Keir said: 'It is probably the right thing to do. It is an independent decision that is being made.'