OXFORD East MP Anneliese Dodds said Government policies are preventing the city 'being a city for everyone'.

Ms Dodds said Oxford is the least affordable place in the country to buy a home – with an average one costing 16 times the average salary.

She told the House of Commons: "Rents have rocketed, and we now have up to 60 people rough sleeping on our streets of a night. That has happened despite huge local efforts to improve the situation."

Ms Dodds added: "At least half of new developments in Oxford must be affordable housing, of which 80 per cent must be at social rents. We have one of the strictest regimes in the country for landlord registration.

"The council is establishing a new local housing company and is investing to ensure that our council homes are of a decent standard, and we have retained full council tax relief for low-income families, despite Government cuts."

She described the estimated 25,000 new homes that will need to be built in Oxford to keep up with current demand as an 'incredibly tall order'.

She said the Green Belt around the city was an obstacle to that and that it is 'no longer suited to our population's needs'.

Ms Dodds also invited the secretary of state for housing, James Brokenshire, to visit Oxford to 'talk to families in need', many of whom are 'overcrowded'.

City council leader Susan Brown has urged the boundaries of the Green Belt to be revised to allow house building where it is required.