I was delighted to be invited on to the main stage at Conservative Party Conference to pitch an Economic Policy idea for consideration by members.
I chose to use my two minutes to propose changes to stamp duty - in order to reinvigorate the housing market and to remove the transactional tax that penalises aspiration and causes friction in the market.
My proposal was:
1) To remove stamp duty on all main property costing less than £500,000 - this would save Londoners almost £13,000 on an average family home
2) To remove stamp duty on main homes for over 65s - to support older people if they wish to downsize. RICS estimates 2.6 million family homes could be released if older people wanted to downsize, triggering a chain reaction across the whole market
These changes would be paid for by an increase of stamp duty on second homes, vacant homes, and foreign buyers.
I’m delighted that my policy idea will be included in the Members’ manifesto and presented to the party for consideration for our next party manifesto.
You can view the speech here: https://www.facebook.com/ReshamConservative/videos/vb.292838237796854/1…