My thanks to John Harris for raising this most emblematic Thatcherite policy question (Something is stirring in England: right to buy looks imperilled, and not a moment too soon, 12 May). But he missed three important points. First, in proposing that a replacement policy would devolve decisions to local authorities, he omitted to say that they always had discretionary power to adopt a voluntary sales policy (with any capital cost falling within their housing revenue account). Right to buy nationalised the policy and devolved the costs, financial and social. Labour should go for local empowerment.
Second, it was only charitable housing associations that were excluded from right to buy; the stock of all other associations was treated the same as council housing.
