UCATT has described the Conservative election pledge to extend the Right to Buy Scheme as "politically illiterate".

The construction union criticised the party's plan to sell properties currently owned by housing associations, claiming that councils will "be forced" to sell up to 210,000 of their "most valuable properties and use the receipts to build new cheaper accommodation."

It is understood that under the plan, tenants living in housing association properties will be given the Right to Buy their properties at discounts of up to £77,000, and up to £102,700 in London.

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Steve Murphy, General Secretary of UCATT, said: "We are facing a housing crisis due to a lack of housing available for social rent, only a political pygmy would believe that the way to resolve that problem is by selling off an already scarce resource."

He added that £358 million generated by Right to Buy sales has been invested back into the government, with £368 million used to repay council housing debt.

Mr Murphy said: "This shows just how extreme this Conservative Party has become, in the past they have tried to bribe voters by selling off the family silver. Today they are trying to bribe the electorate by selling off someone else’s silver. These properties are not owned by the Government."

(LM)