Conservative right-to-buy plans are “criminal”, says Diane Abbott

Diane Abbott has said that the Conservative’s plans to extend right-to-buy is “criminal”.

Abbott, who is standing to be Labour’s candidate for London Mayor, criticised the right-to-buy policy originally introduce by Margaret Thatcher in 1980. The MP for Hackney North pointed out that this policy meant one-third of former council houses are now owned by private landlords, who charge such high rents that the state has support tenants through housing benefits.

The government’s plan to extend this scheme would allow 1.3 million housing association tenants buy the properties in which they are living at a discounted rate.

Speaking at a Guardian event on housing, Abbott argued: “The Tory proposal to allow people to buy their housing association flats at big discounts is just criminal. They’re attempting to bribe the electorate with assets that did not belong to them.”

Abbott also criticised the Labour party for being too timid on housing prior to the election. She went on to lambast the government’s cap on housing benefit, which she said is contributing to social cleansing in the capital:

“What the government is saying is that poor people should not live in zones one and two. We will become like Paris, where only the middle and upper classes can live in the centre.”

Abbott noted that people living in Hackney North and Stoke Newington, the constituency she represents, can’t afford to buy homes in the area. She called for “anything that cools the market” – whether that be rent controls or stopping non-domiciled investors from buying new properties.