The idea to sell off council houses was Tory bribery, writes Michael Meadowcroft, while Toby Wood laments the decline in state control over housing, and Dr Orest Mulka says Labour should offer private tenants the right to buy
Margaret Thatcher’s right-to-buy policy is even more sinister than the rightly critical article by Phineas Harper sets out (Councils now sell off more houses than they build. Thatcher’s legacy, right to buy, is a failure, 26 March). Putting it bluntly, it was a brilliant way for the Conservatives to bribe a large sector of mainly Labour voters to switch.
The significant discounts offered made buying one’s council house a huge bargain. What is more, in terms of housing provision, it did not benefit the sitting tenants as much as giving a substantial gift to their children, who often provided the initial capital knowing that they would inherit the house and make a big gain on its sale or on its subsequent letting for profit.
