PRESS RELEASE : Labour division on Right-to-Buy [December 2022]

The press release issued by the Welsh Conservatives on 1 December 2022.

The UK Labour Party has changed its stance on Right-to-Buy which puts it at odds with the Labour Government in Cardiff Bay who banned the practice in 2019.

An iNews interview with Lisa Nandy MP stated: “Under former leader Jeremy Corbyn, Labour had pledged to end the Right to Buy scheme. But, under Sir Keir Starmer’s stewardship, that’s no longer the case. Labour supports the principle of council and social tenants being able to buy the homes they’ve lived in for years and considers it a sustainable policy if the homes are replaced like-for-like.”

This is in sharp contrast to the position of Mark Drakeford and his party in Wales where Labour – with Plaid Cymru support – who passed a bill in 2018 outlawing the practice nearly four years ago.

Commenting, Janet Finch-Saunders MS, the Welsh Conservative Shadow Minister responsible for housing, said:

“It is good to see the UK Labour Party repent for trying to stop social housing tenants trying to buy their own home, but maybe they should have a word with the socialist-in-chief in Cardiff Bay.

“The Labour Government banned the right-to-buy in Wales – with help from their nationalist sidekicks – because they despise aspiration and blamed the ambition of those who wanted to buy their own property for their own housing policy failures.

“Just like they are doing with second homes and holiday properties, Labour and Plaid got rid of right-to-buy because it is easier for them to demonise those who have worked hard to get their property than hit their housebuilding targets.

“If Keir Starmer wants to show people how he would help the whole of the UK, he could start by standing up to the First Minister and telling him to scrap this ridiculous law that bans aspiration.”