Right to Buy backed by Labour - just days after Sadiq Khan calls for powers to suspend it

A London Assembly Member (AM) has said the national Labour party “needs to listen” and oppose Right to Buy, with a shadow cabinet member backing the scheme just days after Sadiq Khan said he wants it suspended.

Labour’s shadow secretary for levelling up, housing and communities, Lisa Nandy, told a housing conference that Labour backs Right to Buy to provide “security and stability” for working people, adding it was “originally a Labour policy”.

Introduced under Margaret Thatcher in 1980, Right to Buy enables council tenants who have lived in their homes for at least three years to purchase the property at a huge discount from the local authority.

While boosting home ownership, the homes sold have however failed to be replaced, leaving huge holes in councils’ housing stock.

In London, more than 300,000 council homes have been sold since the scheme was implemented, according to City Hall data, with Mr Khan recently saying that number has not come close to being replenished.

According to Inside Housing, Ms Nandy said at the Housing 2023 conference in Manchester: “We support the Right to Buy, what we don’t support is the loss of stock.

“But you have to replace like for like. When [former Labour leader Hugh] Gaitskell originally proposed the Right to Buy policy, it was about giving people the right to own their own home, to the assets that sustain you and the security and stability that working class people have been shut out of for too long.

“But the policy was to replace every home [sold] with two new ones, so that you replenished and grow the social housing stock for future generations.

“We support the Right to Buy, but what we don’t support is the loss of much-needed council housing and social housing from this country.”

This directly contradicts comments recently made by Mr Khan, who only last week told Green London Assembly member Siân Berry he wants to have powers devolved to him to suspend the scheme in London.

He said: “One of the things I want to do is to persuade, if not this government then the next government, to devolve to me those powers. And one of the things I’ll be looking into, for the reasons that you’ve set out, is to suspend Right to Buy, for the reasons that both you and I agree with.”

Following Ms Nandy’s comments, Ms Berry told LondonWorld: "Labour’s front bench is getting housing policy wrong. They need to support the right to housing, rather than trying to make the failing Right To Buy policy work.

“I pushed the mayor of London into the right position, and he agreed with me that the scheme should be suspended. Now his party needs to listen too.”

A spokesperson for Mr Khan said: “The mayor is building a record number of new council homes but has repeatedly pointed out that, due to a lack of investment from government in new supply, Right to Buy has been a key contributor to the loss of social rented homes in the capital. It is clear the government’s replacement policy cannot be achieved unless councils are given greater flexibility to spend Right to Buy receipts.

“Sadiq believes that Right to Buy powers should be devolved to London, as they have been in Wales and Scotland, giving boroughs the option to suspend it if necessary to protect our remaining council homes. A sustainable supply of social rented homes is a key part of the mayor’s plans to build a fairer London for everyone.”

Ms Nandy also told the conference Labour does not support rent control, representing another potential point of conflict with Mr Khan if the party is elected into government.

The mayor has repeatedly called for rent regulation in London. Earlier this year, upon announcing he had surpassed a government target of starting 116,000 affordable homes, he said: “The fact demand for housing outstrips supply is why I’ll continue fighting the corner of renters – putting pressure on the government not only to improve renters’ rights, but to give me the powers to introduce a rent control system for London that would allow me to freeze rents and give renters badly needed respite.”

Ms Nandy was approached for comment.