Former housing minister John Healey quit Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet yesterday – hours after calling on the Chancellor to ensure that the Leave vote does not exacerbate the housing crisis.

Healey, a housing minister under the last Labour administration, urged George Osborne to take “immediate steps”.

Healey said he was concerned about the consequences for housing, voicing concerns at the falls in share prices at housebuilders and the “threat of tightening credit conditions”.

He said: “We simply cannot afford this referendum result to provoke an exacerbation of our housing crisis – with all the consequences this would have for families across the country.”

Healey suggested that Osborne could take note of initiatives taken by the last Labour government, which included an additional £1.5bn to invest in housing; a programme to rescue stalled housing sites; and a mortgage rescue scheme that “stopped high rates of home owner repossession”.

Healey, the shadow housing spokesman, was yesterday among over two dozen to have resigned from Corbyn’s shadow cabinet.