The Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has rounded off the Tory conference in Manchester with the pledge that the party if back in power would abolish stamp duty
From the podium she told the audience
“Young people trapped in the pain of working. Pensioners wanting to downsize. Stamp duty is a bad tax. We must go further. We must free up our housing market”
adding:
‘I have looked at the stamp duty thresholds to see where we can change them. I have decided that we can’t. That simply will not be enough. Conference, the next Conservative government will abolish stamp duty on your home. It will be gone’
The duty raised over £11 billion for the Government in the last financial year but has been described as a dead weight on the housing market and fundamentally unfair.
Critics say that it makes the housing shortage significantly worse by penalising people for downsizing and stopping people from moving around to better jobs.
However those not in favour say it is simply a handout to people who already own property and will do almost nothing for people trying to buy their first home.
