General Election 2015: Tories pin hopes on right-to-buy housing boost
The Conservatives could extend right-to-buy rules to include housing association tenants as part of their upcoming manifesto.
Housing is likely to be a key area of debate in the run-up to May’s crunch General Election.
The right-to-buy policy was first brought in by Margaret Thatcher. It gave council tenants the right to buy their council house.
Current secretary of state for work and pensions Iain Duncan-Smith is known to be keen on extending it to housing associations.
The Conservatives are still strong advocates of right-to-buy, but yesterday a party spokesman refused to be drawn on whether the change is likely to make become official policy, saying: “The manifesto will be announced nearer the election.”
Duncan Stott, of the affordable housing campaign group Priced out, told Morning Wire that the focus should be on building more houses instead. Stott commented that right-to-buy is “not the place government should be putting resources.”