Housing

Boris Johnson to Extend 'Right to Buy' Scheme

JUN 9 2022·Updated DEC 28 2022

#Housing

Boris Johnson to Extend 'Right to Buy' Scheme

Story

Image credit: PA [via The Guardian]

The Facts

UK PM Boris Johnson has restated his intent to extend a home-buying scheme known as the "right to buy." He made the comments in Blackpool as he sought to relaunch his premiership after a confidence vote failed to remove him as leader of the Conservative party on Monday.
BBC News
Johnson said he wanted to "unbolt the door" to home ownership and stated that 2.5M people who rent their homes from housing associations will be made eligible in the scheme that can see participants purchase homes for up to 70% off their market value.
ITV News
While he claimed that this policy change would complete the reforms started by former PM Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, the Office for Budget Responsibility has predicted that the expansion could increase the annual housing budget from £30B to £50B.
Standard
Some 41% of Conservative MPs voted that they did not have confidence in the PM at the start of this week, but Johnson used his speech to assert that "things will get better".
The Telegraph
However, the Tory leader also conceded that he wasn't going to achieve his manifesto pledge to build 300k homes a year by the middle of the decade, claiming that he couldn't give "a cast iron guarantee" that any particular goal could be met by a given year.
Mirror

Sources Split

LEFT

CENTER

RIGHT

ESTAB
CRIT

CENTER

PRO
ESTAB

The Spin

Left narrative

The policy is an attempt by Johnson to save his dying premiership and is simply rehashed history. No specifics beyond broad pledges of cost-saving policies have been released and the return to Thatcherite ideology is a cheap attempt to survive what has been, for a significant time, a doomed premiership.

guardian

Right narrative

Whilst key questions remain as to how such a policy will be practically implemented, this is a step in the right direction and the return to Thatcherite politics will help to appease traditional Tory voters at a time of political vulnerability for Boris Johnson.

The Telegraph