Lower-paid workers will be able to use their housing benefits to buy their homes under plans to be announced by Boris Johnson on Thursday, The Times reports. According to the paper, the prime minister will argue that the £30bn in housing benefit that currently goes towards rent would be better spent helping people become first-time buyers. It adds that the move is “part of an attempt to shore up [Mr Johnson’s] authority” after Monday’s confidence vote and to resist pressure from cabinet ministers to bring forward tax cuts.