The SNP housing minister has denied his Government’s rent cap policy is making the country’s housing problems worse by driving up prices and reducing supply.

Paul McLennan said rents were also going up in England, and urged the UK Government to let Holyrood borrow more to fund housebuilding.

The Scottish Tories said the comments would anger those hit by SNP-Green policies.

Edinburgh City Council last week declared a housing emergency because of the shortage of social rental properties, with 5000 households waiting in temporary accommodation for a roof.

READ MORE: 'Chronic lack of social homes': Edinburgh declares housing emergency

Scottish ministers introduced a 3% cap on private sector tenancies in October last year to help with the cost-of-living crisis, and it is due to run until at least March 2024.

Critics say that despite the aim of keeping rents down, the policy has pushed them up, as landlords exploit any breaks between tenancies to hike rents by more than 3%.

There have also been claims that some landlords are withdrawing from the market, reducing the supply of rental properties, which also pushes up prices.

Rents have risen across Scotland by around 6% in the last year, with a 92% rise in Edinburgh in a decade, taking the average cost of a two-bed flat to £1400 per month. 

In Glasgow, rents have risen by 82% over the last decade, with many students reporting extreme difficulty finding somewhere to live in the city.

Appearing on BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show, Mr McLennan was asked if the SNP_Green  Government’s rent cap had exacerbated problems.

He said: “No. If you look if you look at the evidence, for example, in rents in England, they're up very similar.

“In Manchester, London, Cardiff - they’re all up very similar aspects as they are in Scotland.”

He also said housing legislation had given policy clarity to the private sector and its tenants, who had “protection and the rents don’t increase  more than they need to”.

He added: "It comes down to supply and demand. We need to be building more houses."

He said he had been talking to housing associations and councils about doing that, and said Scotland already builty 40% more affordable homes per capita than England.

READ MORE: Oliver Dowden denies cover-up over claim Tory MP is 'serial rapist'

Last week, Scottish ministers published the latest part of their independence prospectus, setting out plans to increase immigration to boost the economy.

A previous SNP report said around 400,000 extra people would be required.

Asked where they would live, Mr McLennan said that would be “a challenge”, but added an independent Scotland would have new borrowing powers to help fund more housebuilding.

“We’d be building houses at a much quicker pace. Housing has an income stream that comes in, so that’s the key difference. 

“As an independent country, we would have borrowing powers to build more houses, and I wish the UK Government would give us the ability to do that now.”

Tory MSP Miles Briggs said: “Under the SNP-Green Government’s watch, Scotland’s housing crisis has spiralled to astronomical levels.

“In places such as Edinburgh, the situation is so bad that the council has been left with no choice but to declare a housing emergency as homelessness rates continue to soar.

“The SNP’s hugely damaging rent control policy has been counter-productive.

“Paul McLennan’s defence of their rent cap will rightly anger individuals who are now facing huge obstacles and the prospect of becoming homeless.

“I have repeatedly warned this approach, also supported by Labour, would be catastrophic and has caused rents to increase higher in Scottish cities than those in the rest of the UK.”