Chancellor Gordon Brown today visited a new social housing development in Southampton and pledged to build more houses across the country.

The Labour leader hopeful visited the home of mother-of-four Sally Hatcher in Glebe Terrace.

The new block of 174 properties is nearing completion having been built by the Swaythling Housing Society. The accommodation is a mix of privately owned with affordable housing, both rented and shared ownership.

Mr Brown said: ''We want to build more homes with social housing so there are enough homes for children and we would like to do more shared equity so more people have a share in a property because people want decent housing accommodation."

The accommodation also includes photo voltaic panels, a form of solar panels, which produce the electricity for the communal lighting, reducing the bills for residents.

While visiting Southampton Voluntary Centre, where the Chancellor met local Labour Party members, he spoke of a need for the party to help support local communities through housing and education.

He said Labour had ''climbed a mountain'' with its achievements over the past 10 years, but said there were more ''mountains'', such as climate change and terrorism, to be dealt with.

He said the party believed in the ''dignity of the individual'' and would work to help people fulfil their potential through providing housing and education.

He said: ''It's been a pleasure to work with Tony Blair as Prime Minister over the past 10 years, but, while we have climbed one mountain, there are other mountains to climb.

"We have climate change and we have to meet that challenge of global warming and we have the challenge of terrorism and security.'' Speaking of why he entered politics, he said: ''It's not for power, wealth, position or status, but to work for people when they are in need and to stand by them to help build stronger communities.''