LABOUR’S new shadow housing minister geared up for battle yesterday as a charity’s report revealed that nearly 113,000 council homes will be sold off as part of the government’s right-to-buy scheme.

John Healey highlighted a report by homeless charity Shelter warning that the flagship Tory policy would result in “extreme damage.”

Shelter’s scrutiny of the scheme found that 6.8 per cent of all council houses in England would face a forced sale in order to fund the right-to-buy extension plans.

Kensington and Chelsea in London would be the worst affected, losing 97 per cent of its council housing stock.

Mr Healey told the Star: “This research exposes the extreme damage that government plans for a mass sell-off of affordable rented homes will do.

“Over half of all council homes will be lost forever in some areas, creating no-go zones for people on modest incomes.”

The Wentworth and Dearne MP argued that the decline of home ownership by 205,000 and rising property costs showed the “failure” of Tory policies in housing.

He added: “We badly need a plan to make homes more affordable to rent and to buy.

“Labour will lead the national campaign to expose these plans as bad for taxpayers, bad for tenants and bad for future generations too.”

Under the plan, the right to buy will be extended to 1.3 million housing association tenants in England, giving them the chance to purchase the homes for less than they’re worth.

Shelter chief executive Campbell Robb said it would aggravate the housing crisis.

“The government needs to scrap this proposal and start helping the millions of ordinary families struggling with sky-high housing costs,” he said.