-:Undertaker:-
25-06-2014, 05:11 PM
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/10926118/Thatchers-right-to-buy-policy-scrapped-in-Scotland.html
Thatcher's right-to-buy policy scrapped in Scotland
The Scottish Parliament votes down a last-ditch attempt by the Conservatives to save the iconic policy, which helped thousands of working-class families onto the housing ladder.
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02378/council-estate_2378471b.jpg
The right-to-buy policy has helped thousands of families buy their council house Photo: ALAMY
MSPs have overwhelmingly voted to abolish Scottish council tenants’ right to buy their home in the final death knell for one of the most popular policies of the Thatcher era.
The Scottish Parliament rejected by a margin of 103 votes to 12 a last-ditch effort by the Conservatives to save the policy from being scrapped by new housing legislation.
Margaret Burgess, the SNP’s Housing Minister, said the move would ease pressure on waiting lists for social housing by protecting the number of homes available for rent.
But the Tories said it marked the end of one of the most socially liberating policies of modern times, which allowed thousands of working class families get a foot on the property ladder for the first time.
Since its introduction by Margaret Thatcher’s Government in 1980, the right-to-buy policy has proved hugely popular in Scotland and prompted a transformational change in home ownership.
About 534,000 tenants have taken advantage of the scheme to purchase their homes at a discounted rate from their local council or social landlord, with around two-thirds of properties north of the Border owner occupied.
Lord Tebbit, a Cabinet minister in the Thatcher government, has previously described curbs on right to buy as “anti-aspiration and (going) back to the old idea of the state being the landlord”.
But charities have cited lengthy waiting lists for social housing as evidence the scheme should be scrapped.
Four years ago the Scottish Government banned new council and social housing tenants from buying their homes and last year SNP ministers announced they planned to extend this to all previous occupants.
The Scottish Government argued ending the policy could keep about 15,500 properties in the social-rented sector over a 10-year period but the Tories warned the move was a mistake and “counterproductive”.
Alex Johnstone, the Scottish Tory Housing spokesman, tabled an amendment to the Housing (Scotland) Bill that would have removed the section abolishing right-to-buy. However, it was voted down by MSPs.
Speaking in a Holyrood debate on the legislation, he said right-to-buy had been the "greatest driver for social change in 50 years". He added: "It has driven the aspiration for home ownership and it has been a positive in many areas.
"By removing the right to buy, houses will not be freed up. In fact the suggestion is that in the first year as few as 30 houses maybe freed for new tenancies as a result of this change."
He said most of the people who exercise their right to buy are long-term tenants who would remain in their properties anyway even if they had not bought them.
But Ms Burgess said: “In the face of all the evidence that right-to-buy has had its day and has no place in the Scotland we want to build, Mr Johnstone continues to call for this outdated and unpopular policy to continue.
"This can only surely be because of his party's historic attachment to right-to-buy. But surely even he must accept it flies in the face of what is best for landlords, tenants and communities as a whole."
She told MSPs that more than 450,000 homes had been sold as a result of right-to-buy, saying this had been "a major cause of housing shortages in many areas".
Patrick Harvie, a Green MSP, said right to buy had helped stigmatise renting by making home ownership “the tenure of choice to which everybody ought to aspire.”
Mary Fee, a Labour MSP, argued that right-to-buy should be scrapped within a year of the Bill getting Royal Assent instead of the two years proposed by the Scottish Government.
However, Ms Burgess said halving the notice period "could mean there is a real risk that tenants could be rushed into buying and doing something they can't afford".
Oh lord, do I feel bad for the Scots with their mickey mouse assembly stuffed full of left-wing Labour and SNP MSPs. You know, it's bad enough for Britain as a whole by the idiots who govern the country but Scotland is one step worse down the line. The Tory Party, as useless as it always has been, at least until this government used to have a grasp of basic numeracy and hence why the Conservatives used to be elected to rescue us from the spending mess that every Labour Ministry always leaves when it is in office...... the Scots on the other hand only have the choice between perpetual SNP or Labour rule.
Here's a great policy, brought in by the Thatcher Ministry, which you could argue had done more for the working class than anything the Labour Party had done since 1950 and these clowns have gone and scrapped it. Why? Because the truth of socialism is that they want the poor to remain poor so that class warfare remains their weapon come election time: this applies both to the SNP and the Labour Party. Why have people doing well for themselves and lifting themselves away from dependency on the state when your entire election platform is based on state dependency?
To think how much worse things could get for the People's Socialist Paradise of Scotland if Salmond gets his way in September.
Thoughts?
Thatcher's right-to-buy policy scrapped in Scotland
The Scottish Parliament votes down a last-ditch attempt by the Conservatives to save the iconic policy, which helped thousands of working-class families onto the housing ladder.
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02378/council-estate_2378471b.jpg
The right-to-buy policy has helped thousands of families buy their council house Photo: ALAMY
MSPs have overwhelmingly voted to abolish Scottish council tenants’ right to buy their home in the final death knell for one of the most popular policies of the Thatcher era.
The Scottish Parliament rejected by a margin of 103 votes to 12 a last-ditch effort by the Conservatives to save the policy from being scrapped by new housing legislation.
Margaret Burgess, the SNP’s Housing Minister, said the move would ease pressure on waiting lists for social housing by protecting the number of homes available for rent.
But the Tories said it marked the end of one of the most socially liberating policies of modern times, which allowed thousands of working class families get a foot on the property ladder for the first time.
Since its introduction by Margaret Thatcher’s Government in 1980, the right-to-buy policy has proved hugely popular in Scotland and prompted a transformational change in home ownership.
About 534,000 tenants have taken advantage of the scheme to purchase their homes at a discounted rate from their local council or social landlord, with around two-thirds of properties north of the Border owner occupied.
Lord Tebbit, a Cabinet minister in the Thatcher government, has previously described curbs on right to buy as “anti-aspiration and (going) back to the old idea of the state being the landlord”.
But charities have cited lengthy waiting lists for social housing as evidence the scheme should be scrapped.
Four years ago the Scottish Government banned new council and social housing tenants from buying their homes and last year SNP ministers announced they planned to extend this to all previous occupants.
The Scottish Government argued ending the policy could keep about 15,500 properties in the social-rented sector over a 10-year period but the Tories warned the move was a mistake and “counterproductive”.
Alex Johnstone, the Scottish Tory Housing spokesman, tabled an amendment to the Housing (Scotland) Bill that would have removed the section abolishing right-to-buy. However, it was voted down by MSPs.
Speaking in a Holyrood debate on the legislation, he said right-to-buy had been the "greatest driver for social change in 50 years". He added: "It has driven the aspiration for home ownership and it has been a positive in many areas.
"By removing the right to buy, houses will not be freed up. In fact the suggestion is that in the first year as few as 30 houses maybe freed for new tenancies as a result of this change."
He said most of the people who exercise their right to buy are long-term tenants who would remain in their properties anyway even if they had not bought them.
But Ms Burgess said: “In the face of all the evidence that right-to-buy has had its day and has no place in the Scotland we want to build, Mr Johnstone continues to call for this outdated and unpopular policy to continue.
"This can only surely be because of his party's historic attachment to right-to-buy. But surely even he must accept it flies in the face of what is best for landlords, tenants and communities as a whole."
She told MSPs that more than 450,000 homes had been sold as a result of right-to-buy, saying this had been "a major cause of housing shortages in many areas".
Patrick Harvie, a Green MSP, said right to buy had helped stigmatise renting by making home ownership “the tenure of choice to which everybody ought to aspire.”
Mary Fee, a Labour MSP, argued that right-to-buy should be scrapped within a year of the Bill getting Royal Assent instead of the two years proposed by the Scottish Government.
However, Ms Burgess said halving the notice period "could mean there is a real risk that tenants could be rushed into buying and doing something they can't afford".
Oh lord, do I feel bad for the Scots with their mickey mouse assembly stuffed full of left-wing Labour and SNP MSPs. You know, it's bad enough for Britain as a whole by the idiots who govern the country but Scotland is one step worse down the line. The Tory Party, as useless as it always has been, at least until this government used to have a grasp of basic numeracy and hence why the Conservatives used to be elected to rescue us from the spending mess that every Labour Ministry always leaves when it is in office...... the Scots on the other hand only have the choice between perpetual SNP or Labour rule.
Here's a great policy, brought in by the Thatcher Ministry, which you could argue had done more for the working class than anything the Labour Party had done since 1950 and these clowns have gone and scrapped it. Why? Because the truth of socialism is that they want the poor to remain poor so that class warfare remains their weapon come election time: this applies both to the SNP and the Labour Party. Why have people doing well for themselves and lifting themselves away from dependency on the state when your entire election platform is based on state dependency?
To think how much worse things could get for the People's Socialist Paradise of Scotland if Salmond gets his way in September.
Thoughts?