Conservative Manifesto launch – Right to Buy for 1.3 million families

Margaret Thatcher did a great deal of good as the UK’s first female Prime Minister, but her Right to Buy initiative wasn’t, (in many people’s view) one of her better ideas. Thousands of council tenants thought it was brilliant and many that bought their homes at super low prices have reaped extensive financial benefit. The big flaw in the Thatcher plan was that the revenues raised from Right to Buy did not always (ever?) go towards replacing the lost housing stock with new council owned properties. However, Mr Cameron clearly sees his new version of the scheme as a vote winner – those tenants in housing association homes could be onto a winner if they vote Conservative. 1.3 million families could do so, at discounts off market prices of up to £102,700 in London and £77,000 across the rest of England, but the Tories say all the properties that are sold will be replaced. “Conservatives have dreamed of building a property-owning democracy for generations,” he said. “The next Conservative Government will extend the right to buy to all housing association tenants in this country. So this generation of Conservatives can proudly say it: the dream of a property owning democracy…