Angela Rayner considers abolishing Right to Buy – despite personal gain
2 years ago | 17 comments
Labour slammed as another minister cashes in on Right to Buy scheme
9:05 AM, 30th June 2026, 3 weeks ago
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Another Labour minister has been accused of applying “one rule for them and another for everyone else” after making a 900% profit on a council house purchased under the Right to Buy scheme.
Despite the government moving to tighten restrictions on Right to Buy, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has been accused of hypocrisy after it emerged that she also benefited from the policy.
As previously reported by Property118, former Housing Secretary Angela Rayner also profited from Right to Buy, making a £48,500 profit when she sold her former council home.
Spiteful class-war hypocrisy
The Mail on Sunday reports that Ms Phillipson’s family used the Right to Buy scheme to purchase the council house she grew up in.
In 1990, when Ms Phillipson was six years old, her mother bought the two-bedroom council house in Washington, Tyne and Wear, where they were living, for £9,600 after receiving a 38% discount on its £15,490 market value.
The property remained in the family’s ownership until May 2023, when it was sold for £99,950, a 900% profit.
Conservative Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake said the revelations exposed Labour’s hypocrisy, telling the Mail on Sunday: “Labour have once again been caught red-handed displaying their spiteful class-war hypocrisy.
“They are gutting the very same right-to-buy scheme that Bridget Phillipson and Angela Rayner benefited from, pulling up the drawbridge after taking advantage themselves. As ever with Labour, it’s one rule for them and another for everyone else.”
Discount rules to be amended
Under government plans, for the right to buy scheme, the minimum eligibility period would increase from three to ten years before tenants can apply to buy their home.
Discount rules would also be amended, with discounts starting at 5% of the property value and increasing by 1% each year up to a maximum of 15% of the property value or the cash cap, whichever is lower.
A 35-year exemption would also apply to new builds, meaning newly built social homes could not be sold under Right to Buy for 35 years after completion.
Vile smear campaign
Hitting back at the accusations of hypocrisy, a spokesperson for Ms Phillipson claimed to The Telegraph that “the Conservatives’ vile smear campaign against yet another northern working-class woman tells you everything you need to know: they hate working-class people who do well.”
The spokesperson added that Ms Phillipson will help deliver “better life chances for working-class families denied opportunity by 14 years of Tory austerity.”
Tags:
Angela Rayner Right to Buy, Bridget Phillipson, right to buy, right to buy profit, Right to Buy Reforms
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Member Since February 2024 - Comments: 83
10:19 AM, 30th June 2026, About 3 weeks ago
Labour also seem to hate working class people who do well!
Member Since May 2018 - Comments: 2227
10:22 AM, 30th June 2026, About 3 weeks ago
A 38% discount on your house is an enormous, after-tax discount. This has been the best deal in the housing market for years. My family is not rich but nobody in my family was ever eligible for a council house. We just had to work hard to save deposits and pay mortgage interest payments from our after-tax earnings. If had been in Bridget Phillipsons position, I would have done it. Of course I would have done it….most of us would.
A 15% discount on that after you have been paying perhaps 30% of market rent for ten years is still a big tax-free gift.
I live in a mixed community where we have a number of 3 bed semis. Big properties, decent-sized gardens, enough parking. Where I live a three bed semi costs about £2,500 PCM to rent from the PRS but a Council tenant pays not much more than £8,000 PCM.
Member Since May 2014 - Comments: 94
12:58 PM, 30th June 2026, About 3 weeks ago
Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 30/06/2026 – 10:22
£8,000pcm??!! Are they in Belgravia?
Member Since May 2018 - Comments: 2227
1:06 PM, 30th June 2026, About 3 weeks ago
Reply to the comment left by Neil P at 30/06/2026 – 12:58
Sorry, that was a typo. Should have been £840 PCM for a semi that would be about £2,500 from the PRS.
Member Since May 2018 - Comments: 2227
1:11 PM, 30th June 2026, About 3 weeks ago
Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 13:06
So in other words, where I live a council tenant pays about 1/3 of what a similar property would be worth if rented from the PRS. And if the tenant lives there long enough paying below-market-rent the council tenant also then gets a big discount on the purchase price of the property.
In contrast, if you are an owner occupier you probably had to save your deposit from net earnings, you probably had to service most of your mortgage payments from net earnings (although some years back there was also something called Mortgage Interest Relief at Source available for first time buyers, but only on part of the mortgage debt).
The best deal in town for decades has been being a council tenant and buying your own home. I would have done it, and I would have advised my kids to do it if they could. But we would never have been eligible for a council house.
Member Since September 2023 - Comments: 26
9:16 AM, 1st July 2026, About 3 weeks ago
All council houses should be let at market rents, those in work would move on to become home owners/follow new opportunities, those out of work could use their benefits to pay their rent, as my tenants do, those who illegally/immorally sub-let would see their profit margins disappear and those in unnecessarily large houses would downsize to save money.
Sadly the ability to do favours for friends would disappear from local authorities and the council house voting block would not be secure, so it will not happen.
My benefit tenants will remain paying more than double the rent of their working neighbours in council houses. What a corrupt, twisted, unfair system.
Member Since May 2018 - Comments: 2227
9:59 AM, 1st July 2026, About 3 weeks ago
Reply to the comment left by Matthew Jude at 01/07/2026 – 09:16
I think one of the problems with right to buy is that the money hasn’t always gone back into council housing. If they sold it at market value or just less and the money could only go back into providing more council housing, rather than into public sector pensions or some other government bottomless pit, then they’d be able to house more tenants.