Tories vow to revive Margaret Thatcher's "right to buy" scheme

David Cameron pledged Tuesday to give more people the chance to own their home by extending the "Right to Buy" to tenants of housing associations when he launched the Conservative election platform ahead of the general election.

The scheme, giving tenants of council housing the right to buy the home they are living in at a large discount, was started by Margaret Thatcher on coming into power in 1979. The Tories hailed it "the biggest step towards a home-owning democracy ever taken."

In extending the offer to tenants in housing associations, Cameron is hoping to win favor among working-class voters in marginal constituencies.

"It is a profound Conservative belief that our country is made great not through the action of government alone, but through the flair, the ingenuity, and hard work of the British people," he said, adding that his party offered working people security at every stage of their lives.

But the policy was denounced by housing associations, which claimed the move would deter them from building homes.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said: "I think it's a measure of how the Conservatives have run out of new ideas that on the day they publish their manifesto that their big idea is a poor cover version of one of Margaret Thatcher's 1980's hits."

At its manifesto launch, the party also promised to raise the personal tax allowance to 12,500 pounds (about 18,476 U.S. dollars), legislate to keep people who work 30 hours at minimum wage salaries from having to pay taxes, and give an extra 8 billion pounds above inflation for the National Health Service by 2020. Endit