Boris Johnson plans to return Right to Buy

The right to buy, introduced by Ms. Thatcher in 1980, gave the tenants of the municipal council the opportunity to buy their municipal home at a discount and remains in force to this day.

Mr Johnson wants a nationwide approach to housing associations, which are often independent of the government.

About 2.5 million households – or about five million people – live in accommodation rented by housing associations in England.

The proposal is not entirely new – it was included in the Tories’ election manifesto in 2015. Greg Clark negotiated a deal with housing associations when he was secretary of communities and local government.

But the momentum behind the initiative faded after Theresa May replaced David Cameron as prime minister after the Brexit referendum in 2016.

Prices may still be too high for the poorest tenants

The scheme will be similar to the Soviet Right to Buy, in which tenants can receive a discount of up to 70 percent of the market price, depending on how long they have lived in the property.

A pilot project for the scheme was launched in the Midlands in 2018. The Tories’ election manifesto in 2019 promised to consider new pilots, but no more were announced.

Critics have questioned whether there will be absorption, given that prices may still be too high for the poorest tenants, and noted that this will not solve the housing shortage.

Another proposal being developed by policymakers is to use taxpayers’ money paid in housing benefits to help recipients rise up the housing ladder.

The idea – in its early development – is for banks to take into account the regular flow of money for housing benefits for poorer households, which may have limited incomes when looking for mortgages.

Robert Jenrick, who was secretary of Mr Johnson’s communities until last autumn, backed the extension of the right to buy property to housing associations.

Jenrick told The Telegraph: “Now is the time to extend the rights of all tenants.

“Conservatives must be the country of home ownership, and along with building more homes, finding new paths to property must be at the heart of our mission.