Labour slammed as another minister cashes in on Right to Buy scheme

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.”