Reform UK continues to top the polls but scrapping stamp duty, described as “unconservative” by Kemi Badenoch, will likely be extremely popular with the public.
Kemi Badenoch said her party will scrap stamp duty if they win the next election (Image: Getty)
At the Conservative Party Conference, Kemi Bandenoch made a surprise announcement that her party will scrap stamp duty if they win the next election. The Tory leader described it as a “bad tax” and “unconservative tax”, adding abolishing it will help improve the property market and make it easier for millions to buy their own home.
“We must free up our housing market, because a society where no one can afford to buy or move is a society where social mobility is dead,” she told the conference in Manchester on Wednesday. Abolishing stamp duty would almost certainly be incredibly popular with voters but with recent polls showing bad signs for both Ms Badenoch and the Conservatives, would this be enough to save the party as Reform UK and Nigel Farage continue to rise in popularity? So what do you think? Vote in our poll and join the debate in the comments section. Can’t see the poll below? Click here.
Under the proposals, the Tories would ban stamp duty on people’s primary homes.
Stamp duty applies in England and Northern Ireland, with separate property taxes in Scotland and Wales.
It is paid by people buying homes worth more than £125,000, however first time buyers are exempt from the tax on properties worth up to £300,000.
Kemi Badenoch said scrapping stamp duty ‘will help achieve the dream of home ownership for millions’ (Image: Getty)
Stamp duty land tax brought in an estimated £13.9 billion in the last financial year, but a large proportion of this is from additional homes and other buildings.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has estimated that abolishing stamp duty on primary residences will cost around £4.5 billion.
But, claiming that the Chancellor Rachel Reeves was planning a significant increase in stamp duty, the Conservatives said they had “cautiously” estimated that the policy would cost £9 billion.
Ms Badenoch insisted she could meet this promise while sticking to her new “golden rule”, saying this was the “fiscally prudent” thing to do.
She said abolishing the tax “will help achieve the dream of home ownership for millions”.
A poll published by More in Common on Wednesday showed the Conservatives remain in third place behind both Labour and Reform.
It had Reform in first and up to a new high of 33%, gaining three points in just over a week.
A day earlier, Mr Farage’s party announced 20 Tory councillors had defected to Reform in another blow to Ms Badenoch.
