HC Deb 10 May 1978 vol 949 cc1164-6
6. Mr. Knox

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he has any plans to announce measures to increase the opportunities for sitting tenants to buy their council houses.

22. Mr. Shersby

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will permit local authorities to increase the present rate of discount permitted on the sale of council houses to their tenants to 30 per cent.

Mr. Shore

No, Sir.

Mr. Knox

As there has been a substantial reduction in the number of council houses sold to sitting tenants since the Government came to power, why will the right hon. Gentleman not make it easier for tenants to buy their houses? Why do the Government adopt such a doctrinaire attitude on this matter?

Mr. Shore

It is not the Government but the Opposition who take a doctrinaire attitude on this matter. There is still a marked shortage of rented accommodation. Some areas are worse than others. Where that shortage exists, it will not be my practice to encourage the sale of council houses. Council tenants who wish to become owner-occupiers are able to do so in other sorts of housing, are encouraged to do so, and have been doing so at the rate of about 40,000 a year since we came into office.

Mr. Newens

Is it not a fact that the sale of council houses to sitting tenants must inevitably reduce the number of tenancies available to help those on waiting lists? Will my right hon. Friend make clear that the Government are prepared to help owner-occupiers in other ways but regard it as a priority also to help those who need houses to rent?

Mr. Shore

We have made that very clear. I have made it clear, as did my predecessor from almost the first day he took office in the circular that he issued at that time. We are convinced that where there is a shortage of rented accommodation, local councils should be encouraged to make provision for rented housing. One does not make provision by selling off what one has.

Mr. Heseltine

Does the Secretary of State not understand that when, as is often the case, people have been living in the same council house for decades, it does not make the slightest difference to the supply of housing to give them the right to buy their property? We accept the charge that he flings at us. We are committed to the view that council tenants and new town tenants should have the right to own their own homes, and in the next election campaign we shall tell them that we shall give it to them.

Mr. Shore

I know the hon. Gentleman's view, but in my judgment, if local authorities are to be given responsibility for looking after the housing needs of their areas, it is right for them to exercise their judgment. I do not accept that they would be able to do that if a blanket right of purchase, regardless of circumstances, were conferred on all tenants by legislation. In addition, the sort of local authority accommodation that would be the first to go would be those estates with gardens, which, for social reasons, are in short supply and for which there is very great need.

Mr. Stan Crowther

Can my right hon. Friend recall hearing the Conservative Party propose that private landlords should be required to sell their houses to sitting tenants? If the Conservative Party is so keen on allowing tenants to buy their houses, would it not be a good idea for it to persuade its friends, the private landlords, to sell their homes?

Mr. James Lamond

And at a substantial discount.

Mr. Shore

The House will have noted the typically undoctrinaire contribution of my hon. Friend the Member for Rotherham (Mr. Crowther) in extend- ing parity between tenants, whether private or council—as distinct from the prejudiced and one-sided view that we get from Conservative Members.