Margaret Thatcher’s 1980s policy turbocharged the sale of council homes, contributing to ‘worst housing crisis in living memory’

Margaret Thatcher’s right-to-buy scheme has left Britain with the legacy of a social housing shortfall that would cost the government £50bn to return the number of affordable homes back to 2010 levels.

In a report issued as Labour pushes to reform the Conservative policy introduced in the 1980s, the Resolution Foundation said Keir Starmer’s government faced a huge task to replenish the UK’s affordable housing stock.