Britain’s 2.6 million landlords may have a reason to fear a Labour government after the party’s plans to give private tenants the right to buy their homes at a discount. Calculations by Times Money suggest that landlords could lose almost £50 billion, an average of £18,400 each, under the proposal by John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor.

What is the proposal?

McDonnell wants to “tackle the burgeoning buy-to-let market”. He suggested to the Financial Times that they could pay less than market value. “You would want to establish what is a reasonable price, you can establish that and then that becomes the right to buy . . . You [the government] set the criteria. I don’t think it’s complicated.”

Corbyn first mooted the idea in his