The Housing Secretary is expected to announce changes to the Right to Buy policy.
Angela Rayner addresses the Labour Party Conference
Angela Rayner has been accused of hypocrisy over plans to restrict a council home ownership scheme she benefited from.
Under proposals expected to be announced by the Housing Secretary, tenants will have to live in their property for up to a decade before they can buy it at a discount.
The extension of the period from three years is part of a tightening to Margaret Thatcher’s Right to Buy scheme, which the Deputy Prime Minister will launch a consultation on later this month.
But the Tories said Labour was “pulling up the drawbridge on home ownership” after Ms Rayner bought her council house in Stockport in 2007 following three years’ ownership.
Shadow Housing Secretary Kevin Hollinrake said: “The Right to Buy has helped millions into home ownership. It has given something back to families who worked hard, paid their rent and played by the rules.
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Housing Secretary Angela Rayner (Image: Getty)
“It has allowed them to do up their home, change their front door, improve their garden – without getting permission from the town hall.
“It has given people a sense of pride and ownership not just in their home but also in their street and neighbourhood. Labour are now pulling up the drawbridge on home ownership, making their party the enemy of aspiration and social mobility.
“It’s the height of hypocrisy for Angela Rayner to sabotage the policy that helped her move on to and up the housing ladder.”
Ms Rayner, the MP for Ashton-under-Lyne, made an estimated £48,500 profit when she sold her house eight years later.
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Labour has said it will reduce the discounts social housing tenants receive under the scheme.
The Housing Secretary also suggested last week that she wants to stop new council homes from being sold under the policy.
More than two million homes have been sold since the scheme was introduced but in recent years it has been blamed for depleting the number of council houses available.
A housing ministry spokesman said: “Right to buy remains an important route for council housing tenants to be able to buy their own home and we will not be abolishing the scheme.
“But it’s scandalous that only a third of council homes sold through right to buy have been replaced since 2012.
“That is why we have said we will review the scheme more widely, which will look at eligibility criteria and protections for new homes to help us reverse the decline of council housing, with more details set out in the coming weeks.”
