Morgan said that the extra £3,500 cost of installing sprinklers could spell an end to new developments in the “poorer” areas of Wales.

But a Welsh Assembly member has attacked  Morgan’s comments as “a cynical threat to a lifesaving breakthrough”.

Labour backbencher Ann Jones told the Western Mail: “This really is cynical stuff from Redrow.

“To threaten that this will stop the development of homes in poor areas without backing it up with hard evidence is quite reckless.

“We’ve got evidence from the US which compared housing development in counties with sprinklers to those without. They found ‘no reduction’ in development at all.

“Redrow are choosing threats over facts. That’s why they lost the argument in the long scrutiny process and I suspect the same will happen this time around.”