Kemi on Stamp Dury
"One of the big disadvantages of coming up with a great policy in Opposition is that you can't make it happen immediately, and in the interim the Government can steal it.
When I announced last week that the next Conservative government will abolish stamp duty on homes, people immediately understood why. You get it.
Stamp duty is holding Britain back. Abolishing it would free up the housing market, help every generation, and get Britain moving again.
Abolishing stamp duty shows the Conservatives have a serious plan for a stronger economy. But this is not about the Conservative Party, it's about the country.
I'm serious about ideas, not territorial about their ownership. If the Government wants to take a good idea, I'll applaud them for it – Britain wins either way.
Rachel Reeves would steal it if she has any sense, but we know she doesn't. She should look at the reaction to my stamp duty announcement and think very carefully about why it's had a near-universal welcome.
Stamp duty is a tax on aspiration. A tax on mobility. A tax on doing the right thing: working hard, saving up and wanting to move your family into a better home.
Stamp duty locks people in place. It stops families from moving to where the jobs are. It traps young parents in flats that are too small, and keeps older people in houses that are too big.
Some 2.8 million people in this country say they would downsize if stamp duty was abolished.
That's millions of properties, many of them family homes, that could be freed up for the next generation. Think of what that would mean for young couples desperate to get on the ladder, for growing families hunting for space, for pensioners wanting to live near their grandchildren.
And the housing market doesn't just get people moving – it gets the economy moving.
Every home move triggers a chain reaction of activity of movers, builders, decorators, plumbers, DIY stores, furniture makers. Trips to IKEA and B&Q. Deliveries. Renovations. Jobs.
And it also gives people a stake in society. It means more stability, responsibility and pride in community. I still remember the moment when I got the keys to my first flat. The excitement of opening the door.
I want everyone to experience that feeling of pride I felt. Owning your own home is more than just about bricks and mortar, it's about belonging and putting down roots in your community.
But today, too many can't afford that next step.
The average buyer in England pays thousands of pounds in stamp duty. In London it can be far higher. That's a tax on ordinary people doing the right thing, a tax on aspiration.
I want Labour to steal this idea because the alternative is that they steal more of your money.
Instead of abolishing stamp duty, the rumour is that the Chancellor is planning to freeze the thresholds, dragging more people into paying this hated tax.
Keir Starmer and Reeves have got themselves locked into a tax-and-spend doom loop — borrowing to spend, spending to borrow. Crushing growth while fuelling inflation and unemployment.
And we know Reeves is coming back for more in her November Budget of Doom.
That's not how my party would do things.
At conference last week, we announced a host of spending cuts.
These included slashing the size of the bloated Civil Service, reducing overseas development spend and welfare changes focused on people claiming benefits who should be working.
And to make sure these savings are not wasted, I also introduced my Golden Economic Rule – every pound a future Conservative government saves, we would put to work.
Half of it goes to cutting the deficit and the rest goes to either cutting the taxes that are holding Britain back or funding other priorities. That's the Conservative way: fiscal responsibility today, opportunity tomorrow.
In just one year we have already identified £47 billion in savings.
Our plans are all costed. Funded. Paid for. We are not shaking the same magic money tree as Labour, Lib Dems and Reform."
Kemi Badenoch MP, Conservative Leader.
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