Political Opinion: Abolishing stamp duty can unlock the housing market and grow the economy

Following last year’s General Election defeat, The Conservative Party under the leadership of Kemi Badenoch have rightfully taken their time to ensure they did the hard work and develop fully thought-out policies, before announcing them. This process has paid off with the news that a future Conservative Government would abolish Stamp Duty.

Conservative values sit at the heart of this excellent policy announcement. Championing aspiration and fairness. The opportunity to own your own home. Lower taxes. A Government that does less, but does it better. And of course, getting the economy back on track.

This will benefit every generation by unlocking our housing market. Enabling the couple that want to start a family to move up the ladder and buy a family home. Freeing up supply of starter homes to make the dream of owning your first home more tangible for our young people. Ensuring our pensioners who want to downsize into a more appropriate home are not blocked by the cost of Stamp Duty. Stamp Duty blocks up our housing market, removing it will stimulate the economy and give more people a stake in our society.

This isn’t just the view of those in my party; the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has previously warned that Stamp Duty ‘has a claim to be the most economically damaging tax in the UK. It makes both housing and labour markets less efficient, acting as a drag on growth. It should be reduced or–even better–abolished, and certainly not increased.’.

Labour’s own Treasury Minister is on record saying that ‘stamp duties are bad taxes.’. Despite that, the Government has chosen to freeze thresholds which will drag even more people into paying Stamp Duty in the coming years.

One of the issues I hear often across Mid Bedfordshire is the importance of children and grandchildren being able to live in the village they grew up in. Abolishing Stamp Duty will help families remain in their communities and not be priced out of the village they have spent their entire life.

This policy announcement is a huge step in the right direction. Too many young people are trapped renting, working parents and pensioners are being blocked from living their lives. We can change that, and boost our economy at the same time.