Cameron pledges a million cheap homes as he revives Thatcher’s housing policy
Conservatives vow to bring back Thatcher's 'right to buy' policy, giving council house tenants the chance to purchase their homes at a discount
Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron is pinning his Conservative Party's hopes of re-election on offering 1.3 million poorer families the chance to buy their own homes.
With less than four weeks to go until the May 7 vote and the polls still neck-and-neck, Cameron is reviving one of Margaret Thatcher's most popular policies, the sale of houses owned by local councils to tenants at discounts of at least a third.
In the Tories' election manifesto published yesterday, he's pledging to extend the policy to cover nonprofit housing associations that are some of Britain's biggest landlords, and also announced plans for free childcare and said minimum-wage workers will pay no income tax.
Anyone who has rented a property for at least three years will be entitled to buy their home at a discount. The housing association will be required to build a new home to replace each one it sells.
"At the heart of this manifesto is a simple proposition: We are the party of working people," Cameron said announcing the manifesto, according to his office. "We are there for you, offering security at every stage of your life."
Cameron's announcement comes after the main opposition Labour Party set out its own programme for government. Its leader, Ed Miliband, used the event to pledge himself to fiscal discipline, seeking to overcome voter doubts about Labour's ability to manage the economy.