David Cameron has proposed a radical rent-to-own housing scheme which could enable millions of tenants of social housing properties to eventually own their own homes.

He wants to see a shake-up of planning rules and moves to increase shared ownership that could include a new scheme akin to Margaret Thatcher's notorious right-to-buy policy.

Addressing a Conservative first-time buyer summit in Westminster, Cameron called on the party's Public Services Policy Group to examine the proposals under which tenants of council and housing association accommodation could turn their rents into mortgage payments.

Other pledges made by the Conservatives include opening up shared home ownership schemes to a wider audience, ending what they call "a scandal of new homes lying empty" and continuing their campaign against home information packs.

Cameron said that right-to-buy had led to a huge change, allowing 2.5 million people who might otherwise have never been able to gain a foothold on the property ladder to become home owners.

"Isn't it time to look at a scheme where we can say to council tenants and housing association tenants: Why not change your rent payments into mortgage payments?" he said. "In this way we could create a whole new generation of home owners."

Cameron added: "In this way we can create a whole new generation of homeowners; we can take that revolution all the way. Millions of people would be able to own their own flat, own their home. Millions of people would have an asset for their lives. Millions of people would be able to pass property on to future generations."

Other parties were scathing about David Cameron’s ideas. "They do nothing to increase our housing stock or meeting housing shortages, as he himself recognises." Housing minister Baroness Andrews said, adding, "They do nothing for the thousands of first-time buyers desperate to get into the housing market."

Liberal Democrat Housing Spokesperson, Dan Rogerson said: "Simply extending ‘right to buy’ would only diminish the supply of social housing and do nothing to tackle the real issue which is the shortage of decent affordable homes."

"We need to give communities the power to come up with innovative solutions to their housing problems, not just recycle old Thatcherite policies."