Sir Keir Starmer has unveiled plans for around 12 new towns in England whose "beautiful" designs may in part be inspired by the King's own developments.

More than 100 proposals have been submitted to the "New Towns Taskforce", which will sift through options and announce winners in the summer.

The Prime Minister used a briefing with journalists to make clear that British builders would be used to construct the houses, rather than relying on new foreign workers.

He also talked about his personal experience of the "security" that owning a property bought when he was growing up and vowed to "knock down" opponents of his building drive.

A report by the New Towns Taskforce released on Thursday did, however, admit that "urban extensions to existing towns or cities" would be considered as well as fully standalone new towns.

Most of the proposals - which only apply in England, given planning is a power devolved to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland administrations - are from the South East, South West, East and London. No specific locations of the bids have yet been announced.

A government press release talked about the new towns being "beautiful". Sir Keir said he wanted them to be "well designed" and "look good".

The Prime Minister also said he was taking some inspiration from the designs he saw on Monday when he joined the King to look at a sustainable housing project in Cornwall.

The development of Nansledan, a 120-hectare extension to the seaside town of Newquay, has been championed by the King. Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, joined for the visit.

Asked if he would take inspiration from the King's record of creating historically-inspired communities, Sir Keir said: "I'm really interested in that, and that's why I wanted to go and see it.

"I was struck by the quality of the build, the variety, [and] particularly struck by the fact that you couldn't tell which was social housing."

The King has a long history of expressing views on modern architecture, including writing to ministers when Prince of Wales on the issue in what were dubbed "black spider" memos.

Each of the new towns will house at least 10,000 people. Sir Keir said he could not rule out some of them being built on Green Belt land, saying it was up to the Taskforce to recommend sites.

Downing Street's aim is that construction of some of the new towns will have started by the next general election, which has to happen in 2029 at the latest.

The Government hopes they will be "cost neutral" for the taxpayer, with government loans offered for construction paid back once properties are sold.

The venture is part of a wider push from Sir Keir to build 1.5 million homes by the next general election, in a deliberate attempt to take on what he calls the "blockers".

The Taskforce is understood to be broadly attempting to green light 10 to 12 new towns when they put forward recommendations in the summer to ministers.

Sir Keir waved away the idea that his loosening of planning laws could lead to some Labour MPs losing their seats at the next election, but stressed he was determined to deliver on housing.

The Prime Minister said: "I do see it as 'whose side are you on'. Because in the end you either want to give people the dream of home ownership and understand that in a sort of emotional way or you don't.

"There's no point delivering a beautiful speech on the importance of home ownership if you're not prepared to take on the Nimbys and the blockers. That's what has happened, in my view."

He added about those people struggling to get on the housing ladder: "If we're going to give them back the dream of home ownership we're going to have to knock down those that are standing in the way and we'll do so."

The Prime Minister also rejected the idea that extra foreign workers would be needed to build the new towns given the existing employment shortages in the construction sector.

Asked if foreign workers would be used, Sir Keir said: "No. We've got to get the construction workers we need trained up. I don't accept that we can never shift the dial on this.

"I absolutely don't accept that if a developer is told you've got a massive contract for 10,000 houses for a new town but what you've got to do is to help us to make sure we've got the training in place for the construction workers that you need that they're going to say 'I'm not doing that'."