Cameron to expand Right to Buy to regain initiative from Miliband

David Cameron will on Tuesday attempt to seize back the political initiative from a confident Ed Miliband, proclaiming the Conservatives as "the party of working people" with plans to expand Margaret Thatcher's flagship Right to Buy scheme.

Mr Cameron will use the launch of the Tory manifesto to sharpen his party's offer to ordinary voters, promising 1.3m housing association tenants the chance to buy their homes on the same terms as council tenants.

The policy was immediately denounced by housing associations, which claimed the move would deter them from building new homes, adding that it would cost the taxpayer £5.8bn in subsidies to the home buyers.

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, told the BBC Today programme on Tuesday that the policy would give more than a million people the chance of a more secure future. Challenged on how the government would pay billions of pounds to housing associations to compensate them for selling their assets at a loss, she replied: "I don't recognise those figures."

Some critics have said the policy will anger those living in private rented accommodation who will not benefit: "That doesn't mean we shouldn't give that opportunity to housing association tenants," she said.

The prime minister is anxious to move the Conservative campaign on from its narrow focus on the deficit and personal attacks on Mr Miliband and on to a series of practical policies aimed at key swing voters.

That task has become more pressing following a self-assured performance on Monday by Mr Miliband, who launched his own party's manifesto in front of cheering supporters in Manchester with the message: "I'm ready."

The Labour leader's well-trailed policies included more levies on banks and a higher top rate of income tax, but he draped his manifesto in the language of fiscal prudence. The Conservatives by contrast had been "throwing promises around" with no idea where the money was coming from, he said.

Half a dozen Conservative candidates contacted by the Financial Times said Mr Miliband seemed "confident" and that he was "looking and sounding better" compared to some previous performances; some urged Mr Cameron to put a stop to personal attacks on the Labour leader.

The claim by Michael Fallon, defence secretary, last week that Mr Miliband was "a back-stabber" disheartened some leading Tories. One candidate said the remark was "stupid and pointless"; another said it was "a real low point".

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The first page of a sober manifesto featured the party's "budget responsibility lock", committing Labour to balance the current deficit and to cut national debt in the next parliament.

Mr Miliband's focus on economic credibility was in marked contrast to his last big speech in Manchester at Labour's party conference last year, when he forgot to mention the deficit.

George Osborne, chancellor, pointed out that Mr Miliband failed to detail the measures the party would have to take to cut the deficit.

Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies said Labour's fiscal rules would allow it continue borrowing for capital spending, allowing the party to run a deficit of perhaps £30bn at the end of the parliament.

Mr Cameron will say at his manifesto launch that the Tories would offer "security at every stage of your life", from training, to buying a home, childcare, a well-funded NHS and a decent retirement.

His expanded Right to Buy scheme would give housing association tenants the same 35 per cent standard discount available to council house tenants; homes sold would be replaced on a one-for-one basis.

<>The scheme would be funded by requiring councils to sell off their most expensive homes when they fall empty, raising £4.5bn per year. Councils would then oversee the building of cheaper homes, aided by a £1bn fund to recycle brownfield land.

Although the Tory campaign has appeared disjointed in recent days, most Conservatives believe the party is still on course to win the most seats on May 7, especially with the recent squeeze on Ukip support.

An ICM poll on Monday put the Tories on 39 per cent with Labour on 33 - very much an outlier in recent polls - while a national poll paid for by Lord Ashcroft, the Tory peer, put the two parties neck-and-neck on 33 points.

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