Only one-third of people support Tories’ right-to-buy proposals

Only one-third of people support the Tories’ latest right-to-buy proposals, a poll has found.

YouGov have done polling for The Times in which they’ve found only one-third of people think the Conservatives latest plans for right-to-buy is a good idea. 66% said they thought it was a “bad idea” or they were unsure.

When broken down, the results read as follows:

Extending right-to-buy is a good idea – 34%

Extending right-to-buy is a bad idea – 39%

Not sure – 27%

The results are a little different when broken down along party lines. For Tory voters, 43% support the scheme but a significant 31% think it’s a bad idea.  Among Labour voters support for the scheme is at 28% and opposition to it is 48%, while Lib Dems are more clearly opposed at 20% for to 51% against.

At the moment right-to-buy gives a discount to people who to buy their council homes, it currently applies to 2 million homes. The Tories want to extend this further,  including 2.4 million properties owned by housing associations. With the backing of Iain Duncan Smith and election campaign chief Lynton Crosby, it’s thought this will go into their manifesto.

Opponents to the scheme, however, say that this policy has a negative impact on the housing market because it reduces the amount of affordable property to rent. This is a particular concern due to the low numbers of affordable properties being built.

In particular, housing associations have asked all parties not to extend the right to buy, as they say they won’t be able to afford to replace the homes.

Due to the housing crisis, home ownership and rent prices are a particularly big concern for many voters – it comes in as one of the top five issues for many in the election. In fact, a study from Shelter found last week that most swing seats are affected more by the housing crisis. They also found that right to buy has pushed up house prices in the East of England and all but one of the 14 marginal seats (93%) in this area have high levels of housing unaffordability – this includes constituencies such as Norwich North, Watford and Thurrock.

This has led Shelter to conclude that the kind of voters who decide elections are being hit hard by the housing crisis. The Tories right-to-buy plans might not sit well with these people…