Prime Minister Andy Burnham is considering giving mayors in England the power to suspend Right to Buy in their areas as part of his drive to increase the country's stock of council housing.
The proposal would allow regional leaders to restrict the sale of council homes where they believe Right to Buy is undermining local housing supply.
The Financial Times reports that the Government is exploring the change, which could be included in forthcoming housing or devolution legislation.
No new blanket power for mayors to suspend Right to Buy has yet been introduced, and the policy remains under consideration.
Burnham explores local Right to Buy suspensions
Under the proposal being examined by ministers, English mayors could be given greater control over whether Right to Buy operates in their areas.
The policy would represent a significant further restriction of the scheme introduced under Margaret Thatcher, which allows eligible council tenants to purchase their homes at a discount.
Burnham has long argued that local leaders should be able to suspend Right to Buy in areas where social housing is under particular pressure.
As Mayor of Greater Manchester in 2024, he called for powers to suspend the scheme on newly built council homes and in areas of greatest housing need.
Right to Buy sales rose sharply last year
The debate comes after a sharp increase in the number of council homes sold through Right to Buy.
Official figures show that local authorities reported 14,275 eligible Right to Buy sales in England during 2025-26, an increase of 90% compared with the previous year.
The Financial Times reported that fewer than 12,000 new social homes were built over the same broad period, intensifying concerns about the ability of councils to replenish housing stock.
Supporters of restricting Right to Buy argue that selling homes faster than they can be replaced makes it harder for councils to meet demand for social housing and can increase reliance on temporary accommodation.
Existing restrictions already expected to cut sales
The Government inherited and has continued a series of reforms that already make Right to Buy more restrictive than it was previously.
Changes include substantially lower maximum discounts and a longer qualifying period before tenants can exercise the right.
The Financial Times reports that government modelling expects those reforms to reduce annual Right to Buy sales to around 1,500.
Further proposals have also included long exemptions from Right to Buy for newly built social homes, designed to prevent public investment in new council housing being rapidly lost through discounted sales.
Mayoral powers could go further
Giving mayors the ability to suspend the scheme locally would go further by allowing Right to Buy to be restricted according to housing conditions in individual regions.
Supporters argue that housing pressures vary significantly across England and that local leaders are better placed to decide whether discounted sales are sustainable.
Critics of tighter restrictions argue that Right to Buy gives working households an opportunity to become homeowners and warn that weakening it could reduce aspiration and home ownership.
Those are competing political arguments. The Government has not yet published the detailed criteria that would determine when or how a mayor could suspend the scheme.
Burnham's housing programme raises stakes
The proposal comes as Burnham attempts to deliver a major expansion of social and council housebuilding.
The Government has announced the first £9.58 billion wave of its Social and Affordable Homes Programme, supporting an expected 73,600 homes through 33 strategic partners outside London.
Nearly two-thirds of those homes are expected to be for social rent.
Burnham has also emphasised his ambition to restore councils as major housebuilders, making the future treatment of Right to Buy particularly important to his wider housing strategy.
Reform UK takes opposite approach
The emerging policy also creates a clear dividing line with Reform UK.
Reform has proposed expanding Right to Buy as part of its own housing programme, arguing that the scheme should help more working families move into home ownership.
Burnham's Government is instead examining whether regional leaders should have the power to switch the policy off in areas where council housing is in short supply.
The contrast could turn Right to Buy into a significant political battleground as the parties compete over housing and home ownership.
No decision yet on new mayoral power
For now, the Government is exploring the proposal rather than implementing it.
Right to Buy continues to operate under the existing rules, and English mayors have not been granted a general new power to suspend the scheme.
Any change would require the Government to set out the legal mechanism and the conditions under which local suspension could take place.
If adopted, however, the proposal would mark another substantial shift away from the model of Right to Buy that has shaped council housing policy since the 1980s.