text: Housing chiefs have been were accused of hypocrisy for opposing plans to revive Margaret Thatcher’s flagship right-to-buy policy. The pledge to extend the dream of home ownership to 1.3million social tenants was the centrepiece of Tuesday’s Tory manifesto launch. But housing associations responded furiously – with one board member lambasting the proposal as the ‘right to steal’. There were even threats of a legal challenge, potentially under European human rights laws. Jane Ashcroft (left) the Anchor housing association boss is reported to earn £332,000 a year while David Bennett (right) of the Sanctuary Group is said to earn £314,000 a year . Jane Ashcroft's modern detached home (left) in the Midlands was bought for £750,000 in 2005 while David Bennett's detached farmhouse (right) in rural Herefordshire was bought for £295,000 in 2003 . But the bosses of housing associations, which are not for profit, were themselves in the dock after details emerged of their lavish salaries. Eighty pocket more than Mr Cameron’s salary of £142,500. One – David Cowans of Places for People – takes home an astonishing £432,928, including bonuses. Five others are on £250,000-plus. Bob Neill, a Tory Party vice chairman, said: ‘It’s a bit rich coming from chief executives who are lining their pockets with six-figure salaries. ‘Everyone should have the opportunity to buy their own home. ‘Right to buy has already helped around two million families realise their dream of owning their own home – and by extending it, we’ll give even more hardworking people the chance to move on and up the housing ladder.’ The housing associations said it was wrong that they should be forced to sell their homes at a discount. The National Housing Federation, the trade body for the organisations, pledged to fight the proposals ‘every step of the way’. And Rev Richard Coles, a vicar and BBC broadcaster who sits on the board of Wellingborough Homes, a small housing association in Northamptonshire, launched a furious attack on Twitter. ‘So a housing association, like the one on whose board I sit, goes to the market, raises finance, does deals with contractors and builds urgently needed units for people to live in at social rents and then the government forces us to sell them off at a 35 per cent discount. That’s right to buy? Sounds like right to steal to me.’ Simon Dow (left) of the Guinness Partnership is said to earn £264,000 a year while Darrell Mercer (right) is reported to earn £247,000 a year . Simon Dow' townhouse (left) in trendy North London has an estimated value of £750,000 while Darrell Mercer's five bed-room semi-detached townhouse (right) in West London was bought for £732,500 in 2006 . The policy director of the National Housing Federation, Ruth Davison, a Labour party member in Islington, said it was wrong to hand money to ‘some of the most securely-housed people in the country on some of the lowest rents’. She told the BBC: ‘We are independent organisations and charities – you can no more force a housing association to sell their assets at less than they’re worth than you can force Tesco, or even Cancer Research. ‘So housing associations would have to be fully recompensed for any sale. There will be a cost to the taxpayer.’ Council house tenants in England can already buy their home at a discount of up to £103,900. The Tories would extend this to 800,000 housing association tenants who now have limited purchase rights and to 500,000 who have no rights at all. Around 2.7million people live in these properties. The subsidies would be funded by making councils sell their more costly properties once they become vacant. Every house purchased would be replaced ‘on a one-for-one basis’. Unveiling the policy in Swindon, Mr Cameron said: ‘Part of having a good life is having a home of your own. It’s not about assets and appreciating values – it’s about someone standing there with their keys in their hand thinking “this place is mine”. ‘The next Conservative government will extend the right to buy to all housing association tenants in this country. That’s 1.3million extra families – a whole new generation given the security of a home. The pledge to extend the dream of home ownership to 1.3million social tenants was the centrepiece of Tuesday’s Tory manifesto launch . ‘So let the message ring out from this generation of Conservatives: you’ve worked hard, you’ve saved, the home you live in, it’s yours to buy, yours to own. ‘The dream of a property-owning democracy is alive – and we will fulfil it.’ The plan was welcomed by Paula Higgins, chief executive of the HomeOwners Alliance, who said: ‘The overwhelming majority of British people of all backgrounds want to own their own home, rather than rent them.’ Tony Stacey, of South Yorkshire Housing Association, said last month that he would definitely launch a challenge. ‘This is so fundamentally critical to us,’ he said. ‘It would shoot up to the top of our risk map if it was confirmed. We are duty bound morally to fight it in any way we possibly can.’ Industry sources believe the plans could fall foul of charity law, because housing associations are generally prohibited from selling off their assets at below market value. One lawyer said it might even breach article 1, protocol 1, of the European Convention on Human Rights, which grants the ‘right to the peaceful enjoyment of one’s possessions’. ‘I can’t see how this could get through the legal system. It’s completely reckless,’ said Richard Murphy, of Tax Research LLP. Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said the right-to-buy pledge showed the Tories had ‘run out of ideas’, adding that it was just ‘a poor cover version of one of Margaret Thatcher’s 1980s hits’. Housing association chief executives whose salaries have been revealed by Inside Housing magazine include Jane Ashcroft of Anchor who was on a package of £332,316 in 2013/14. Four others were: David Bennett of Sanctuary Group, who was on £314,416; Keith Exford of Affinity Sutton (£289,088); Simon Dow of the Guinness Partnership (£264,000); and Darrell Mercer of the A2 Dominion Group (£247,000). A study by the GMB union found that two out of five council houses sold in Wandsworth, south-west London, in the 1980s, are now owned by private landlords, who rent them to tenants. It said reviving the policy would benefit private landlords.
target: Tories pledged to extend dream of home ownership to 1.3m social tenants .
  Housing associations respond furiously amid threat of a legal challenge .
  But 80 housing association bosses earn more than David Cameron’s salary .