In August 1980 during Margaret Thatcher’s first year in office, her government produced a Housing Act. Despite its lengthy and repetitive nature, its bold intention stood out: “to give … the right to buy their homes … to tenants of local authorities”.  It proposed the idea that previously state-owned houses be sold back to the people. These homes were offered at 33% below their market value, and could be discounted further, according to how long they had rented it. This was set to a maximum of 50% for tenants who had lived there for 20 years or longer. “We shall also ensure,” promised the manifesto, “that 100% mortgages are available.” This was targeted at any homebuyer, but particularly for people aged 30 and over. It seemed to be the exact solution to solve the problem of housing which had burdened the government before.

To better understand the origins of this ground-breaking initiative, we must look back in history. During the Victorian and Edwardian eras, cities in the UK were plagued by squalor and overcrowding, issues that private landlords and developers had failed to address effectively. Despite this, the private sector constructed most of Britain’s early municipal housing in the 1900s. At the same time, however, Labour councils and governments were also building in large quantities. Throughout the early 60’s and 70’s the Labour authorities had built almost 2.7 million homes throughout the UK and rented them out to the public in what is known as council housing. By the early 1970’s some Labour authorities were buying up whole streets of old unused land to build new council homes. This was a tangible and potent demonstration of state power making up for market failure. However, this growth only burdened the government further due to increased demand for the supply of houses. By 1980 the proportion of all British housing in state hands was “large … by international standards”, write Jones and Murie, “almost one in three households”. This hints at the narrative of constant house construction without any sales. Though this was far from the truth.

Contrary to popular belief, selling council homes was not a sudden revelation by the Thatcher government. Nineteenth-century housing legislation required that council-built dwellings in redevelopment areas should be, “sold within 10 years of completion.” In the 1950s sales accelerated: 5,825 in May 1956 alone. Later between 1957 and 1960, 16,000 council houses were sold in England. Even people within the Conservative government had proposed the policy. Such as in 1972, when the Environment Secretary for the Conservatives, Peter Walker, declared in the party’s conference, that the ability of council tenants to buy their homes was a “very basic right”. Further adding that they should be offered a 20% discount on the market price. Later in the 1970s, now a backbencher, Walker then suggested that municipal properties should simply be given to their tenants.

Even in the Labour party the spark of a “Right to buy” policy was also being proposed. Some influential Labour figures, such as Harold Wilson’s press secretary Joe Haines and Jim Callaghan’s economic adviser Gavyn Davies, began to wonder whether renting from the council, often for life, was a sustainable way for many citizens to live. As well as considering if governments could afford to keep building the necessary properties given their dwindling budget as a result of a period of stagflation in the UK. Their more forward-thinking members were increasingly interested in the growth of consumerism and private property, and how Labour might adjust to it, before the other parties could take full advantage. Both Labour governments built progressively fewer council homes. In 1977, a high-profile housing study by the Callaghan administration accepted that, “for most people, owning one’s house is a basic and natural desire”. At the 1979 general election, council-home sales featured prominently in both the Labour and Conservative manifestos . In this, the right to buy was given as much attention as enormous issues such as education and health emphasising its immense importance.

“The right to buy”: it was a clever slogan, clear, quick to say, easy to remember, and combining two of modern Britain’s favourite preoccupations, personal freedom and purchasing, while also encapsulating the more inviting side of what the Thatcher government was offering the country. Her use of the word “house” in the broadcast, when millions of council tenants actually lived in flats, was also significant. It gave the policy an aspirational flavour: reassuringly suburban rather than proletarian and urban. It also was instrumental in the general election, swaying votes and possibly even gaining her the office. However, it was not a new revolutionary idea but simply an evolution of the current policies, though, to a far greater extent. It also brought it into the spotlight of the media, becoming one of the landmark policies of the Thatcher Government both before and during her first term in office.