The Conservatives will scrap stamp duty on sales of primary residences if they win the next election, Kemi Badenoch has said in a policy-heavy speech designed to improve her party’s economic credibility.
The Tory leader told her party’s conference that she would abolish the tax that new buyers in England and Northern Ireland have to pay on house purchases over £125,000. The Conservatives calculate that this would cost £9bn a year to the Treasury.
Badenoch said the pledge was affordable because of a separate promise to make nearly £50bn worth of spending cuts by 2029. Though economists say the promised spending cuts are vague and difficult to assess, the Conservative leader said they would generate enough to offer both tax cuts and deficit reduction after the next election.
“Home ownership should be a dream that’s open to everyone,” she told the conference. “Abolishing stamp duty on your home is a key to unlock a fairer and more aspirational society. Scrapping stamp duty will benefit people of all ages, because conservatism must speak to all generations: the young professional buying their first flat, the couple looking for somewhere to bring up their first baby, the growing family hunting for their forever home.”
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, has been considering replacing stamp duty with another form of property tax entirely, though sources say she is unlikely to do that in this budget.
Badenoch, however ,said the tax should be abolished entirely as a way to stimulate the housing market and the broader economy.
The pledge came at the end of a Tory conference heavy with policy announcements, including a promise to leave the European Convention on Human Rights, one to repeal the Climate Change Act and one to slash welfare payments.
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The slew of proposals contrasts with her insistence earlier this year that the party would not set out its policy stall until 2027.
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