Nobody seriously doubts that council tenants shouldn't be given a chance to buy the house that have been renting. The huge error that the Government at the time made was to deny the Council the ability to use the funds raised to replace the rental housing stock. As WR has already said today, it is the principle reason why we have the housing problem we have today.
That is why we have characters like these two ::
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/jan/10/fergus-wilson-property-tycoon-mass-evictions
Lets not forget why the Tory Government of the time brought about Right to Buy...it was a cynical attempt to bribe voters to vote Tory next time. They also stole the Water Board, Gas Board, Electricity Board, etc, etc away from the British public that owned it and then sold it back to us. Again, a bribe to make sure a big enough minority voted Tory at the next elections. And this policy worked, until 1997 at least. It was no more or less than gerrymandering, on a grand scale.