Labour would scrap Right to Buy in England

At the party’s conference in Liverpool, Teresa Pearce, shadow housing minister for Labour, said the policy was wrong “in a time of shortage”. 

She said Labour would follow the example of Scotland and Wales and axe the controversial policy if it got back into power.

In her speech, Ms Pearce said: “Following the examples set by Wales and Scotland, we will suspend the Right to Buy. The right to buy can only make sense in a time of surplus, in a time of shortage it makes no sense at all.”

Figures released last week show more than 45,000 council homes have been sold under Right to Buy since the Conservatives raised the discounts in 2012, and just 7,000 replacements started.

Under the policy, council tenants with more than three years residency can buy their home at a discount of up to £77,900 nationally and £103,900 in London. 

Labour has previously supported the policy, but promised to do more than the Tories to replace homes sold.

Gavin Barwell, Tory housing minister, tweeted: “Nothing better illustrates how out of touch Labour are with hard-working people than the announcement that they’ll abolish the Right to Buy.”

Speaking at a housing fringe event later, former Labour housing minister John Healey said: “I’m not concerned [that Labour wil lose votes among council tenants]. It’s political power is not the same as it was in the 1980s.”

However, he did emphasise that the party must demonstrate to voters it is committed to home ownership in other ways.

In her speech, Ms Pearce also said Labour would boost council borrowing powers, introduce national standards and three year tenancies in the private rented sector and invest in housing through a National Infrastructure Bank. 

She also repeated the party’s pledge to build 500,000 social homes in its next term in power.