Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has become the centre of a new “class war” row after Government plans to curb the Right to Buy scheme, despite reports that her own family once made a 900% profit from selling a former council home.
Her family originally bought the council house she grew up in through the Right to Buy scheme and later sold it for around ten times its purchase price.
Labour is now pushing ahead with proposals to significantly scale back the scheme, sparking criticism that ministers are “pulling up the drawbridge” after benefiting from it themselves, according to the Daily Mail.
The Conservatives argue the bill going through Parliament highlights what they see as Labour hypocrisy and unfairness.
During Prime Minister’s Questions last week, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch attacked Phillipson over the Government’s decision to impose VAT on private school fees, claiming it had contributed to school closures and increased pressure on the state sector.
She said: “She taxed private schools to pay for more teachers, but the number of teachers has gone down. It turns out that appointing a spiteful class warrior as Education Secretary was a disaster.”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer defended his Education Secretary, saying she understood poverty firsthand and had an “incredible story of social mobility and success.”
Phillipson grew up on a council estate in Gateshead, near Newcastle, and has previously spoken about difficult childhood experiences, including going to bed fully clothed because her home had no heating.
Her mother bought their two-bedroom council house in Washington, Tyne and Wear, in 1986 for £9,600 under the Right to Buy scheme, receiving a 38% discount on its market value at the time.
The property remained in the family until May 2023, when it sold for £99,950.
Labour’s Social Housing Bill would now significantly tighten access to Right to Buy. The qualifying period would rise from three years to ten, with deeper limits on eligibility aimed at ensuring only long-term tenants can purchase their homes.
Discounts would also be reduced, starting at 5% and capped at 15%, while newly built social and affordable housing would be exempt for 35 years.
The Government says the changes are intended to protect social housing stock and estimates they could reduce annual sales from around 8,200 to 850.
The reforms were first introduced in 2024 by former Housing Secretary Angela Rayner, who herself previously benefited from the scheme, making a reported £48,000 profit when selling her former council home in Stockport.
Conservative Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake accused Labour of “spiteful class-war hypocrisy,” saying the party was dismantling a scheme its senior figures had personally benefited from.
A source close to Phillipson dismissed the criticism as “sheer snobbery,” describing her as a “strong working-class woman from the North East.”
