Angela Rayner ‘pulls up the drawbridge’ on home ownership with cuts to Right to Buy perks… that she benefitted from!_Nhy
Angela Rayner has been accused of ‘pulling up the drawbridge’ on owning a home by cutting back on the perks of the Right to Buy schemes from which she herself benefited.
The Housing Secretary bought her council house in Stockport in 2007 when she had only just passed the eligibility criteria of three years’ tenancy.
Her department is now consulting on plans to extend that period to ten years.
She bought her property after receiving a discount of 25 per cent from the property’s £79,000 asking price. She sold it eight years later for a profit of £48,500.
During much of that time, neighbours say she was living with her husband in his Right to Buy property.
Angela Rayner has come under criticism for cutting back on the perks of the Right to Buy scheme from which she herself benefited
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced that the Government will cut the discounts available by up to 88 per cent in London.
Ministers may also intervene to stop new council houses from being sold under the scheme. Shadow Housing Secretary Kevin Hollinrake said last night: ‘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.
‘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’s department is consulting on plans to narrow the eligibility criteria to ten years’ tenancy
Ms Rayner has vowed to oversee a ‘council housing revolution’ as part of the Government’s target to build 1.5million homes within five years. Margaret Thatcher first allowed council tenants to buy their homes at a discounted rate in the 1980s.
The Housing Secretary says she is reducing ‘unfair’ discounts which were introduced by the Tories in 2012 – ‘long after’ she exercised her own right to buy. She said: ‘We’ll be putting restrictions on them so that we aren’t losing those homes.’
Her living arrangements led to her being dubbed ‘Two Homes Rayner’ and led to a police investigation. It concluded that no criminal offences had occurred.
