THE Conservative manifesto’s right to buy pledge, is a clear move to retread Margaret Thatcher’s strategy which forced the sale of council houses.

This was, perhaps, the single biggest factor in bringing the 1979 Conservative government to power. Its success raised awareness of the political power of aspiration, as enshrined by the stereotypical Essex Man and Woman figures who came to the fore in 1979.

This time around, David Cameron has set his sights on housing associations, with a plan to force them to sell their valuable properties.

It could be a vote winner, but the wider social implications have to be taken into account.

There are two ways to view this initiative. Seen as a device to inject bloodflow into the housing market, and to assist would-be first time buyers desperate to become property owners, it could have some beneficial effect. But there would be collateral.

Housing associations, a quiet success story across five decades would be undermined, possibly to the point of extinction.

Even the Labour Party has avoided making any promises to build social housing in large numbers. Yet Southend, to take but one example, has 100 applicants for every available council property.

Such people, for the most part, do not aspire to own property.

They simply want a roof over their head.