Right to buy was introduced by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government in 1980. Since then, more than two million homes have been sold.

The policy was initially blamed for increasing home ownership rates, but more recently has been blamed for contributing to the rise in homelessness.

Labor has committed to building the largest number of council and social housing since the Second World War. Rayner told the BBC that he does not want those newly built properties to “leave the system”.

“We will put restrictions on them so we don’t lose those houses… we won’t lose that stock.”

Ministers will launch a consultation on the issue later this year.

Right to buy was relaunched in 2012 by the Conservative-led coalition government, which increased the discount a tenant could receive when purchasing their home.

It currently stands at £102,400 across England, except London, where it is £136,400.

Since taking office, Labor has said the discount will be reduced to between £16,000 and £38,000, depending on location. Last month’s budget also included measures allowing local authorities to keep all the money they received from council home sales, a policy the last Conservative government also followed for two years, until March 2024.

Previously, they had to deliver a proportion of each sale to the Treasury.

Right to buy ended in Scotland in 2016 and in 2019 the Welsh government stopped the policy.