TENANTS will be given more support to buy their homes under new Government moves.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said he will reinvigorate the Right to Buy scheme this year, with the maximum discount for a house rising from 60 per cent to 70 per cent and the £75,000 cap increasing in line with inflation.

Mr Pickles said the changes would ensure Right to Buy becomes a realistic New Year’s resolution for thousands of social tenants across the country.

Since 2011 the Government has helped almost 50,000 households onto the housing ladder – more than 13,400 social tenants through the Right to Buy and more than 36,000 through Help to Buy and earlier schemes.

Mr Pickles said: “For years the Right to Buy was slowly strangled, with a miserly cap on discounts killing the prospect of home ownership for most social tenants.

“We don’t think governments should be in the business of vetoing aspiration.

“We will also continue to plough the cash from additional sales back into delivering new affordable homes for rent, which will soon help us reach the fastest rate of affordable house building for 20 years.”

Today’s move will extend the Government’s commitment to help hard-working tenants and build more homes, which the Chancellor set out in the Autumn Statement.

This included introducing a Right to Move for social tenants who need to relocate for a new job or training and establishing new Right to Buy agents who will guide people through the buying process, and providing £100m to establish a fund to improve access to mortgage finance.

A £1bn six-year investment programme to build 250,000 homes which will allow councils to bid for up to £300m of borrowing for affordable housing was also announced.