7. 3. Statement: The Abolition of the Right to Buy and Associated Rights (Wales) Bill

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:09 pm on 14 March 2017.

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Photo of Dawn Bowden Dawn Bowden Labour 4:09, 14 March 2017

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. After you chastising other Members, I’ve cut this down quite considerably from what I was originally going to say. Can I thank the Cabinet Secretary for his very welcome statement, setting out another example of the Labour Welsh Government delivering on one of its manifesto pledges in its first year in office? I would have to say that this is absolutely in stark contrast to the recent broken promises that we’ve seen from the Tories on their manifesto pledges on national insurance, and actually, on building affordable homes, which they’ve backtracked on this week as well.

So, Cabinet Secretary, the legacy of the right to buy in the 1980s, as you’ve already touched on, left us woefully short of housing stock and, as we’ve already heard, local authorities were prevented from reinvesting moneys from the sale of those houses. When I hear the Conservatives and UKIP talking about reinvesting that, it’s all—I’m afraid—too little too late. We needed that in the 1980s, and we didn’t have it, and that, both directly and indirectly, led to the housing crisis that we’re still trying to deal with. So, while I understand the issue of home ownership aspiration, I do think that needs to be addressed in different ways, as you’ve already also highlighted in your statement.

I’ve had some recent discussions, Cabinet Secretary, with Merthyr Valleys Homes on the right to buy. Bearing in mind this is the smallest local authority in Wales, they’ve still sold 93 of their homes at a cost of £5.5 million—[Interruption.]