Boris Johnson vows to ‘finish’ Margaret Thatcher’s right to buy revolution – and cut taxes too

BORIS Johnson yesterday vowed to complete Margaret Thatcher’s right to buy revolution — and cut tax one day.

The embattled PM launched his political fightback by promising to get millions more on the housing ladder.

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Dangling the prospect of tax cuts down the line — but not promising when — he branded current levels “an aberration” as they hit their highest peak since the 1940s.

He warned the economy would be painful for some time as rocketing prices are predicted to stay high for the rest of the year.

But he said too many people are trapped in rented homes and unable to buy property.

He added: “It’s time for change.”

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His housing policy blitz will see:

• RIGHT to buy extended to those in housing association properties;
• REVIEW of mortgages, with the aim of dramatically increasing the number of banks offering 95 per cent deals;
• BENEFITS for bricks scheme to let families use housing benefit to buy a home — as revealed in The Sun yesterday.

It is the first time welfare payments can be used to get a mortgage and contribute to payments.

The PM also promised to end the scourge of crippling ground rents by making it easier for leaseholders to buy the freehold for their home.

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Speaking in Blackpool, he said: “We will finish the right to own reforms Margaret Thatcher began in the 1980s.”

But he ditched a manifesto pledge to build 300,000 homes a year, instead saying there would be “lots more”.

On tax, he admitted current rates “must come down”, but gave no hint of which will be cut or when.

He said: “This burden is an aberration caused in no small part by the fiscal meteorite of Covid.”

Cutting taxes too quickly and hiking wages to inflation-busting levels risks causing a 1970s-style stagflation crisis, he said.

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Lindsay Judge, from the Resolution Foundation think-tank, said letting people buy a home with housing benefits could provide significant support to first time buyers.

But she warned that only a small number of people on benefits are expected to make use of the scheme.