Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has unveiled plans to completely eliminate stamp duty on primary home purchases should her party return to power, deploying the surprise policy announcement as the climactic moment of her debut conference speech as Tory chief.
The dramatic pledge earned Mrs Badenoch sustained applause from party activists packed into the Manchester venue, as she proclaimed the move would “unlock a fairer and more aspirational society” enabling “millions” to achieve homeownership dreams.
£9 billion policy kept secret until delivery
The policy bombshell remained closely guarded until Mrs Badenoch revealed it during her 45-minute address, catching even senior party figures off-guard. She framed the existing tax as fundamentally flawed, telling delegates: “Stamp duty is a bad tax. We must free up our housing market, because a society where no one can afford to buy or move is a society where social mobility is dead.”
Under current rules, purchasers pay the levy on properties exceeding £125,000, though first-time buyers receive exemption up to £300,000. Those acquiring more expensive homes face charges calculated as a percentage of the purchase price.
The Conservatives have “cautiously” estimated their abolition plan would cost £9 billion annually, though independent analysis suggests different figures. The Institute for Fiscal Studies previously calculated scrapping stamp duty on primary residences would create a £4.5 billion hole in Treasury revenues.
Government accounts show stamp duty generated approximately £13.9 billion during the previous financial year, though substantial portions derived from second homes and commercial properties rather than primary residences.
Tax would remain on additional properties
The Conservative proposal would maintain stamp duty charges on secondary properties, corporate purchases, and acquisitions by non-UK residents. This targeted approach aims to protect revenue streams whilst addressing criticism that the tax impedes labour mobility and housing market fluidity.
The IFS has long advocated for stamp duty reform, arguing the levy creates market distortions and discourages workers from relocating for employment opportunities.
Scotland and Wales operate separate property tax systems that don’t include stamp duty. Welsh Conservatives have committed to implementing equivalent cuts should they win May’s devolved elections.
Funding plan relies on controversial welfare cuts
Mrs Badenoch insisted her party could finance the pledge through £47 billion in planned savings announced earlier during the conference. These cuts would target welfare spending, foreign aid budgets, and civil service staffing levels, all politically contentious areas.
The Tory leader established what she termed a “golden rule” requiring any future Conservative government to dedicate half of all savings towards deficit reduction, attempting to rebuild economic credibility following the party’s catastrophic electoral defeat.
Speech designed to reset party image
Mrs Badenoch faced intense pressure to deliver a career-defining performance that would silence leadership speculation and demonstrate her capability to reverse the Conservatives’ polling collapse behind both Labour and Reform UK.
The capacity crowd marked a notable contrast with other conference sessions that struggled to fill venues, suggesting genuine curiosity about the new leader’s direction.
Her address wove together personal anecdotes, humour, and a blizzard of policy announcements clearly designed to generate headlines and establish distinct positions from rival parties.
Notably, she mentioned Reform UK merely twice throughout the lengthy speech, instead concentrating attacks on Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour administration, which she characterised as “weak and directionless” whilst “making one hell of a mess” of governing.
Wide-ranging policy package unveiled
Beyond the stamp duty announcement, Mrs Badenoch’s conference performance showcased numerous policy commitments spanning economic, social and justice matters.
She pledged to abolish business rates affecting high street retailers, scrap carbon taxes on electricity, triple police stop-and-search operations in high-crime areas, and close “rip-off” university courses whilst expanding apprenticeship programmes.
Her promise to eliminate Labour’s “family farm tax” sparked particularly enthusiastic applause, as did commitments to drastically reduce welfare expenditure and withdraw Britain from the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Conservative leader also vowed to reverse Labour policies including new employment rights legislation and VAT charges on private school fees, painting her party as “fizzing with ideas” to fix what she described as a “broken model” hampering national progress.
Acknowledgement of electoral wilderness
Mrs Badenoch candidly recognised voters remain “still angry” with her party following its historic defeat, whilst taking an oblique swipe at Reform by noting “parties that in normal times would never be seen as a serious option for government are gaining ground, making promises they will never be able to keep.”
The speech aimed fundamentally to signal the Conservative Party has turned the page, now led by someone prepared to make “bold” and “tough” decisions competitors would supposedly avoid.
Whether the policy blitz and stamp duty gambit prove sufficient to arrest the Tories’ electoral decline remains uncertain, with the party facing an uphill battle to convince voters it deserves another chance at governing.
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Image Credit:
Kemi Badenoch — official Cabinet portrait (cropped), licensed under UK Open Government Licence v3.0
