Angela Rayner has insisted “I am not ashamed” after it was revealed she made a £48,500 profit on an ex-council house using a right-to-buy scheme implemented by the late Margaret Thatcher.
The Labour deputy leader was accused of “pulling the ladder up” to make it harder for social housing tenants to benefit in the same way she has after saying she wants to reform it. Taking to X, formerly Twitter, this morning (February 25), she hit back at hypocrisy claims and explained her stance.
She said: “Being able to buy my council house back in 2007 was a proud moment for me. I worked hard, saved and bought it by the book. I’m not ashamed – but I am angry that the Tories have since put the dream of a secure home out of reach for so many others.
“That’s why a Labour Government will deliver the biggest boost to affordable, social and council housing for a generation. I want others to have the opportunity for a secure home that I had.
“It’s clear that Lord Ashcroft and his friends not only take an unhealthy interest in my family – but want to kick down at people like me who graft hard in tough circumstances to get on in life. I won’t let them.”
Teesside Tory MP Jacob Young accused the Labour deputy of “staggering hypocrisy”, and blasted to the Mail on Sunday: “Having personally benefited from the right-to-buy discount, she now wants to pull up the ladder on other council tenants wanting to buy their home.
“Not only that, she appears to have moved into a second home only two years later, also bought under right-to-buy.”
Ms Rayner’s own personal house-buying circumstances have been thrust into the spotlight as she has spoken out against those who get “loads and loads of discount” when buying houses under the Government’s Right-to-Buy policy.
It emerged the Ashton-under-Lyne MP bought her own former council house with a 25 percent discount in 2007, before selling up for £48,500 due to an increase in market value. This is set to emerge in Lord Ashcroft’s new book set to be serialised next month.
Asked about the Right-to-Buy policy last year, Ms Rayner said an incoming Labour government “need to review the way right-to-buy works. She added: “If someone’s lived in their property for a long time, they’ve been paying rent and it’s their home, then, yes, right-to-buy it.
“But that right isn’t that you get loads, loads of discount and we can’t replace the stock”. The right to buy scheme was introduced under the government of the late former Conservative Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.
The Housing Act 1980 is active legislation in the UK and allows council tenants to buy their homes at a discounted rate, a move that was billed as a way to get more people on the housing ladder.