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Right to buy is an abuse of public funds for political ends | Letters
news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Yesterday - 18:35
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.
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