John Healey MP Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Minister for Housing and Planning, responding to the decision announced today that the ONS is reclassifying housing associations as public corporations, said:

“This decision from the ONS is a blow to the Chancellor and completely undermines the basis for so-called ‘voluntary' right-to-buy deal the Government struck with housing associations and the Prime Minister announced this month at the Conservative conference.

"That deal was done with the housing association sector on the basis that if they didn’t agree, they risked re-classification as public bodies which we all want to avoid. Today’s ONS decision calls into question the whole deal and the good faith of Ministers in reaching it.

"Ministers must have known this ONS decision was coming and so there are hard questions for Government ministers about when they knew and why they went ahead with the agreement.”