Dominic Raab vows to extend Right to Buy to a million housing association tenants in bid to reignite leadership dream
DOMINIC Raab on Friday night vowed to give a million tenants the chance to buy their home as he sought to breathe new life into his campaign.
The Tory leadership contender said one of his first acts as PM would be to fulfil the pledge made in 2015 to extend ‘Right to Buy’ to housing association residents.
Ex-PM David Cameron vowed to widen the scheme introduced for council house tenants four years ago – but the Government only ever carried out a pilot scheme in the Midlands.
Mr Raab said this meant housing association tenants were missing out on potential discounts of up to £115,000.
He said: “There are too many people working hard, doing the right things, who just can’t get on the housing ladder.
“I want everyone to be able to have a stake in our society and share in the Conservative dream of owning their own home.
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“So, if elected Prime Minister, I would extend the Right to Buy to housing association tenants, keeping the promise in our 2015 manifesto.”
David Cameron revamped Right to Buy in 2012 as he sought to rejuvenate one of Margaret Thatcher’s main legacies. He offered council tenants a discount of up to £75,000 on their properties.
Some two million social homes have been bought by their occupants since Mrs Thatcher first launched the scheme in 1980. But annual sales have tailed off to just 4,000 a year.
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