Mrs Thatcher reveals Tory homes plan

Conservative housing proposals would give thousands on Merseyside the chance of realising a dream of homeownership, Mrs Margaret Thatcher, Shadow Environment Secretary, said in Liverpool yesterday.

The Tories could house three families in their own homes for the same present day cost of housing one family in a council house, she said.

Mrs Thatcher, MP for Finchley, was addressing Garston Conservative Association as part of a campaigning tour of the North-West.

Cash help for first-time home buyers, a maximum mortgage rate of 9½ per cent, sale of council houses to sitting tenants at two-thirds their market value and a more broadly based tax structure to replace the present rating scheme are the proposals.

“These proposals are slightly less expensive than Labour's, but we are helping people to become self reliant and independent. That makes good economic as well as good social sense.

She added that housing is the most fundamental of needs and people should not be frustrated from achieving their dreams of owning their own home.