Labour accused of attack on aspiration as ministers restrict Margaret Thatcher’s flagship Right to Buy policy – with new council houses now banned from being sold off for 35 years

Labor has been accused of launching an attack on wants by restricting the Right to Buy.

Ministers are halting the sale of new-build social housing for 35 years as part of major changes to Margaret Thatcher’s flagship policy that helped millions get on the housing ladder.

Tenants are also required to have lived in social housing for ten years (up from the current three) to be eligible to buy it.

The current maximum discount is also being reduced. Buyers will only be able to obtain the lesser of 15 per cent of the value of the property or a ‘cash cap’ of £16,000 to £38,000, which is currently 70 per cent.

The government claims the changes, which will be ‘put forward as soon as parliamentary time allows’, will make the scheme fairer by ensuring only people from their local community can benefit.

It is also hoped the reforms will help protect the UK’s housing stock, as figures show just 2 per cent of properties sold under Right to Buy are flipped.

The Housing Secretary also rejected Greens’ demands for the Right to Buy to be scrapped altogether; Labor said it would ‘eliminate opportunities for working-class council tenants’.

Steve Reed said: ‘Under the Conservatives, dodgy landlords could buy council houses cheaply and pocket huge incomes from rents. The worker calls time with this noise.

‘While the hypocritical Green Party hobbyistically blocks new homes, this Labor government is bringing fairness back to the housing system.

‘We build the social and affordable homes people deserve and reserve the Right to Buy only for those with real roots in their area. This means local people are locked into local homes.’

But the Conservatives said it was an attack on ambition and said Labor was on track to miss its target of building 1.5 million new homes by 2029 to tackle the housing crisis.

Sir James Cleverly, who was forced to move from his rented constituency house because of Labour’s new law aimed at protecting tenants from no-fault evictions, said: ‘Idea-starved and mired in muck, Labor has resorted to rehashing last year’s announcements in a desperate attempt to distract from the crisis surrounding the Prime Minister.

‘This attack on ambition, along with cuts to house taxes and homeownership support, means Labor is badly failing to deliver the new homes it has promised. The government’s own figures show they will miss their target by miles; Meanwhile, more and more immigrants are coming to the UK and demanding social housing. And ministers are refusing to tell us when the so-called Affordable Homes Scheme money will be available.’

Robert Jenrick, Reform’s Treasury spokesman, said: ‘The Right to Buy gave millions of working-class Britons the chance to own their own home, we all know why Labor relaxed it; This is because they are determined to continue distributing valuable council houses to immigrants.

‘Reforming the UK would end this and ensure that only British citizens are eligible for social housing.’

The Right to Buy was introduced during Mrs Thatcher’s first term as Prime Minister and led to some 2 million council houses being bought by tenants.

The then Environment Minister, Michael Heseltine, told the House of Commons in 1980 that the scheme was designed ‘firstly to give people what they want and secondly to reverse the trend of increasing dominance of the State over the lives of individuals’.

New reforms to the Right to Buy have been drawn up by Angela Rayner, who becomes Housing Secretary in 2024.

But he himself faced accusations of hypocrisy for using the scheme to get a 25 per cent discount when he bought his Stockport home for just £79,000 in 2007.