Scrapping the Right to Buy will undermine social mobility

Welsh Conservatives will this afternoon debate the Welsh Labour Government’s decision to scrap the Right to Buy Scheme in Wales.

The debate calls on the National Assembly to recognise the huge impact the scheme has had since it was introduced in 1980, with 130,000 Welsh families having taken advantage of the chance to get on the property ladder for the first time.

Welsh Conservatives have opposed the Welsh Government’s decision to revoke the Right to Buy, and have instead called on ministers to increase the target for annual house-building in Wales to 14,000 homes per year.

Speaking ahead of the debate, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Housing, David Melding, said:

“Labour’s decision to revoke the Right to Buy in Wales will undermine social mobility, depriving thousands of families of an opportunity to get on the housing ladder for the first time.

“It’s easy for government ministers to lecture, but who are they to deny hardworking families an opportunity to own their own homes?

“The fact is, there is a shortage of affordable housing in Wales because Labour hasn’t built enough affordable homes, and not because council tenants have had a chance to buy theirs.

“The Right to Buy Scheme doesn’t deplete the housing stock, it empowers people to take a stake in the home in which they already live. But our proposals, which ring-fence the money raised for new social housing, will provide more homes and more opportunities for people languishing on Labour’s waiting lists.”