The UK’s Conservative Party will scrap stamp duty, a controversial property tax, if it wins the next general election, the party’s leader Kemi Badenoch told the Conservative Party Conference audience today.
The shock announcement has been branded a “rabbit out of the hat” from the party and could prove popular.
Stamp duty receipts have been gradually rising over the past few years, with homebuyers paying £9.3bn between January and August this year, up 20.6% on the same period last year, according to analysis of HMRC data by Coventry Building Society.
“Stamp duty is a bad tax, it is an un-Conservative tax,” Ms Badenoch told the party conference. “The last Conservative government cut stamp duty for thousands of homebuyers. But now, we must go further.
“I have looked at our stamp duty thresholds to see where we can change them…I have decided that we can’t, because that simply wouldn’t be enough. The next Conservative government will abolish stamp duty on your home.”
Stuart Cheetham, CEO of mortgage lender MPowered, said: “Scrapping stamp duty entirely would be very popular, and it would deliver a huge caffeine jolt to the sluggish property market.”
However, he warned it is not likely to be enough to see the party regain power.
“As ‘rabbit out of the hat’ moments go, this was right up there. But as policies go, it’ll be an albatross if the Tories defy the odds and win the next election.”
