Theresa May's social housing plans are another step away from Cameronism

These days Theresa May has less time to spend distancing herself from her predecessor. With blue-on-blue warfare rife and her premiership at a continual rocky patch, the Prime Minister’s priorities tend to be getting through the day/week rather than killing David Cameron’s pet projects. However, this week’s social housing green paper serves as a reminder of the difference in their approaches.

After leaving the coalition government, Nick Clegg recalled a senior Conservative minister telling him: ‘I don’t understand why you keep going on about the need for more social housing – it just creates Labour voters.’ This dismissive attitude to social housing could be found in the policies the Cameron government adopted. As housing minister, Grant Shapps sought to oust the ‘quango’ and closed the Tenant Services Authority. Meanwhile, David Cameron and George Osborne brought in ‘affordable rent’ as a new type of social housing that didn’t involve building houses.