The PM’s latest jolly wheeze to take attention away from the fact that he broke the law is to resurrect the idea of giving housing association tenants the right to buy.
Forcing charities to give things away for less than they are worth is a Tory policy because it means tens of thousands of people get given cheap property, and property owners are more likely to vote Tory. It really is as cynical as that.
After all it worked for council houses, didn’t it?
The consequences for the country are, however, dire.
For a start throwing tax payers’ money at bribing voters is immoral and costly, especially when apparently the Treasury is broke. Secondly, the reason the UK does not build enough homes is almost totally down to the right to buy scheme, councils stopped building homes forty years ago.
Would you make something if the government was going to force you to sell it for less than it was worth? No, of course not.
Then there are the social costs of removing a large section of housing from the reach of the poorest and most vulnerable.
Oh, and higher house prices and falling levels of home ownership, which is what the right to buy ended up causing. Supply and demand, I believe it is called.
Still it might save the PM’s career, so that’s nice.
Economics, trade and Brexit, not necessarily in that order but the dog always comes first.
As someone who now works in social housing this sort of thing makes my blood boil!