By Fatma Younis
The Right to Buy scheme, introduced by Margaret Thatcher's government in 1980, gave council tenants in England the legal right to purchase their homes at a discount. More than two million homes have been sold since then, representing about 40% of the country's council housing stock. Now, the Labour government is moving to phase out the right for newly built social homes, a shift that has reignited a decades-old debate over home ownership versus the preservation of social housing.
Origins and impact
When the policy launched, tenants received substantial discounts, leading to a surge in sales during the 1980s. Lord Heseltine, the cabinet minister responsible for housing at the time, described it as the biggest transfer of capital wealth from the state to ordinary people. He maintains the policy was wildly successful in spreading ownership. However, academic research shows most sales occurred in the early years, and many of those homes later entered the private rental sector.
Political divide over reform
Since taking power in 2024, Labour has heavily reduced the maximum discount and, as Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham announced in September, will remove the right to buy entirely from new-build social homes. The measures are included in a bill currently before Parliament. The government projects that instead of a net loss of 26,000 council homes over the next decade, there will now be a net gain of 18,000. Opposition parties, including the Conservatives and Reform UK, say they would keep or extend the scheme.
Homeowners' gains
For buyers like Barbara Stevens, who purchased her Kentish Town flat for around £35,000, the policy turned a dream into reality; she now estimates the property is worth between £600,000 and £700,000. Lord Heseltine argues beneficiaries gained an important asset and significant capital growth. Even Housing Secretary Angela Rayner bought and sold her own council home for a profit.
Critics highlight housing shortage
Professor Rebecca Tunstall of the University of York says the policy hollowed out social housing stock, pushing more people into the private rented sector and driving up rents. Research by the New Economics Foundation found 41% of Right to Buy homes are now privately rented. Molly Harris of the foundation argues taxpayers pay twice: first through the original discount, then through housing benefit when those homes are rented out at higher rates. Newham Council reported almost half of the 9,000 homes sold under the scheme were later flipped into private rentals, and the borough now has the largest council house waiting list in the country.
Generational effects debated
Economics professor Matteo Sandi found children growing up in areas with high Right to Buy uptake had better educational and economic outcomes, including higher GCSE attainment and increased adult earnings. He attributes this to families investing more in their homes and neighbourhoods. Professor Tunstall counters that security and affordability, not ownership alone, are critical for child development, and social renting can provide that stability.
Long road to recovery
Scotland abolished Right to Buy in 2016 and Wales followed in 2019, but Professor Tunstall says the changes are too recent to have made a huge difference. She also points to council estate clearances and decades of under-building as contributors to the shortage. The author's mother, who rented a council flat in the 1980s, recalls the certainty of knowing a home would be available; today, the average wait for a family-sized home in London is 27 years, and councils spend £8 million daily on temporary accommodation.
Across the political spectrum, there is broad agreement that the core problem was not selling the homes but failing to replace them.
