At meeting of first-time buyers held in Chiswick's Natural Cafe, David Cameron has come out in favour of more help for first time home buyers, and insisted that "everyone should have the right to own their own home".

Accompanied by Caroline Spelman, Shadow Secretary for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, and Kirsty Allsopp, presenter of property programme 'Location, Location, Location' he chatted in the cafe with a group of people in the cafe who were in the process of trying to buy their first home.

Describing wider home ownership as a matter of social justice and slamming the attitude of some local authorities, the Conservative Leader promoted his plans to remove barriers preventing people from putting a foot on the housing ladder, with the construction of more affordable, attractive, eco-friendly new homes.

Mr Cameron stated, "I passionately believe that everyone should have the right to own their own home. The average home in Britain now costs more than £175,000 and first time buyers are finding it increasingly difficult to save the money for a deposit or to raise a mortgage. Under this Government, homeownership for our young people threatens to become the preserve of the lucky few."

His statement marks a change of approach for his party which had previously been active in its opposition to new housing at the constituency level and highly critical of the Deputy Prime Minister for his attempts to increase the national housing stock. The Tory leader has railed against the 'nimbyist' tendency in his party calling them 'bananas' - or Build Absolutely Nothing Anyhere Near Anyone.

Kirsty Allsopp praised the approach being taken by the Conservative Party under David Cameron saying, "The Conservative Party is making the right moves to make things easier for young people trying to get a start in life. After years of talking about things which seem irrelevant to young people, they are beginning to focus on what matters. And they are listening to people who understand the needs of first time buyers. It's a breath of fresh air after years of a government which seems to talk about the heartache and difficulties of buying your first home, but doesn't seem to act to address the problem - and sometimes just makes matters worse."

March 28, 2006