Millions of houses would be “given away” to low-paid workers under Tory plans to reward people who come off benefits.
Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, is pushing for a pledge to “gift” tenants their council home after a year in work to be included in the Tory manifesto.
Such tenants would cease to be eligible for housing benefit and would have to pay 35 per cent of the sale proceeds in tax if they sold their property within three years, according to one model under discussion. In later years, the amount of tax paid would fall.
All money raised would be ploughed back into the housing market. Proponents argue that the saving in housing benefit and the sales tax receipts, boosted by