James Cleverly has pledged to scrap stamp duty on all homes if he is elected next Conservative leader and prime minister.
The shadow home secretary said he would scrap what he described as a “bad tax” for all buyers of residential properties, in order to get more people on the housing ladder, as he launched his Tory leadership bid.
The leadership contest he is fighting is set to intensify today. The first round of voting by MPs takes place tomorrow and one candidate will be eliminated.
Currently, stamp duty must be paid on homes worth more than £250,000, or £425,000 for first-time buyers. The rate gradually tapers up, from 5% to 12% for the most expensive properties.
The burden on first-time buyers was temporarily eased in 2022, and the Tories had vowed to make this change permanent in their election manifesto.
Writing for The Telegraph Cleverly said he would make it his ambition to go further, scrapping the “perverse” levy entirely for anyone purchasing a home, regardless of the value of the property or whether they have owned one before.
He argued this would remove blocks on older people downsizing and young families upsizing, allowing for more movement in the market.
In his article for The Telegraph, Cleverly wrote: “The truth is, too many young, aspirational, hard-working people have deserted us and our ideas.
“Just as Thatcher gave council tenants the right to buy, we need to give young people a bigger stake in our society.”
He said the Tories had reached a “survive or die moment” following their historic defeat at the general election, adding: “For the Conservative Party to win the next election, we need to resell our Conservative values, be the party of prosperity, and remake the argument for capitalism.”
He added: “It’s why we were right to cut stamp duty for first-time buyers. But I want our ambition to be to abolish stamp duty for residential properties completely. It’s a bad tax that is stopping too many people getting on the housing ladder. It disincentivises housing transactions, stopping older people from downsizing and young families from upsizing, and slows the building of new homes.”
Cleverly, a former home secretary, is one of six leadership candidates, which will be whittled down to four by the time of the Conservative conference at the end of the month.
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