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Tories bewail purchasing 'rush' before right-to-buy axe falls

SNP set to end the Thatcherite policy

Bleating Tories have complained yesterday of a “rush” on buying out lucrative council homes amid SNP plans to axe their right-to-buy legacy.

The Thatcher-era policy allows eligible tenants to buy their council house at a heavily discounted price from the local authority.

The policy’s squeeze on remaining council stock has been directly linked to the current housing crisis and massive housing benefit bill, while the rise of unsecured loans facilitating the purchases is widely believed to be one of the underlying causes of 2008’s economic meltdown.

But the Scottish Tories’ housing spokesman Alex Johnstone insisted yesterday housing minister Margaret Burgess’s planned repeal was “all to do with political ideology.

“The Scottish government claims the move is necessary to protect the housing stock in Scotland, but all this will do is result in a rush to buy,” he claimed.

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