"The 1980s saw a radical shake-up in public housing provision, as Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government set about dismantling council housing, as it had been known since the war, on two fronts. First, government investment in couincil housing was cut dramatically, from £7.2 billion in 1979/79 to £1.6 billion in 1989/90 (1991/92 prices). In 1988, councils lost their role as the main providers of new social housing to the comparatively tiny housing association sector (housing just three per cent of Britains's population), becoming so-called 'enablers' instead. By 1992/93, councils were building just 1,200 new homes. The second flank of the assault came with the introduction of the right to buy for council tenants - an incredibly successful policy at the heart of the Thatcher administration's ideal of a 'property-owning democracy'. More than 1.5 million council homes have been sold to individual tenants since the policy was introduced in 1980. The fact that the right to buy was a powerful vote-winner at first seemed lost on Labour, with its strong local authority power base and electoral support on council estates. Initially, Labour was committed to repealing the legislation- but that stand has now been abandoned completely. Its commitment to use the proceeds from right to buy sales to invest again in new homes remains firm, if a little vague on detail. The Liberal Democrats are also committed to releasing and redistributing the capital receipts from sales into new social housing. Despite the assault of the past 15 years, council housing still makes up 21 per cent of the nation's housing stock, and it remains a political battleground. In 1992, the Conservative focus switched to housing 'management'. The government is now pushing ahead with manifesto plans to force councils to compete with the private sector (including housing associations) for the right to manage council homes. Labour is in principle opposed to compulsory competitive tendering (CCT), preferring to leave the decisions on contracting out to individual local authorities. The Liberal Democrats are equivical about their position on CCT, but would ensure tenants had a vote on who managed their homes. Council housing - the biggest block of homes under political control - has inevitably been at the heart of the parties' battle for votes and power for many years. But their is growing evidence to suggest hostilities are no longer so fierce. Labour has gradually accepted many of the Tory polocies for the sector, while the Conservatives have apparently accepted the sector remaining intact - seeking to tame the beast rather than shoot it." 'DESPITE the assault of the past 15 years, council housing still makes up 21 per cent of the nation's housing stock.'