Bridget Phillipson’s family made 900 per cent profit on council house sale...

Education Secretary’s mother paid £9,600 for property in 1990 before selling for nearly £100,000 in 2023



Bridget Phillipson’s family made a 900 per cent profit on a council house purchased through right to buy.

The details of the deal on the Education Secretary’s childhood home have emerged as the Government plans to restrict tenants’ rights to use the scheme.

That has led to accusations from the Tories that senior Labour figures are “pulling up the drawbridge” after benefiting from the policy themselves.

In 1990, when Ms Phillipson was six years old, her mother Clare bought the council house they were living in Washington, Tyne and Wear.

She paid £9,600 for the two-bedroom property, a 38 per cent discount on its market value of £15,490.

The family then sold the house in May 2023 for £99,950, making a profit of more than 900 per cent.

Current council tenants will be unlikely to enjoy the same benefits as legislation making its way through Parliament will limit access to the scheme and reduce the discounts.

The plans were introduced by Angela Rayner, then housing secretary, who personally benefited from the right-to-buy scheme when buying her property in Stockport.

Kevin Hollinrake, the Tory chairman, told the Mail on Sunday: “Labour have once again been caught red-handed displaying their spiteful class-war hypocrisy.

“They are gutting the very same right-to-buy scheme that Bridget Phillipson and Angela Rayner benefited from, pulling up the drawbridge after taking advantage themselves. As ever with Labour, it’s one rule for them and another for everyone else.”

Ms Phillipson has often discussed her working-class upbringing, describing how she “grew up on a tough street of council houses” with just her mother.

She found it hard to raise her single-handedly and a neighbour who saw them struggling once gave her mother money to help buy a coat for her, Ms Phillipson recalled.

It “wasn’t a desirable place to live” and the houses themselves were “in pretty poor condition”, she said, with no upstairs heating.

But by the time it went on the market in 2023, an estate agent described it as a “delightful” property in a “lovely Victorian terrace” with off-road parking to the rear and a feature fireplace.

Despite the benefits she has apparently received from the right-to-buy scheme, the Education Secretary has said of its architect: “I have never pined for anything associated with Margaret Thatcher. How could I, given the damage she caused?”

Ms Rayner announced plans to restrict the scheme in 2024. The changes will include cutting the discount from the current 35 per cent to between five and 15 per cent, depending on how long the tenant has lived in the property.

To be eligible the tenant must have lived in the council house for 10 years – up from the current three – and new-builds will be exempt from the scheme for 35 years.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/06/28/phillipsons-family-made-900-per-cent-profit-on-council-hous/