Labour pledges to end stamp duty for first-time buyers

Miliband takes on housing issues

Ed Miliband is determined to appeal to younger voters concerned about housing.

Over the weekend, the Labour leader announced plans to crack down on landlords raising rent faster than the rate of inflation, and today, Miliband is to announce that a Labour government would end stamp duty for first time buyers.

The policy would abolish stamp duty on homes worth up to £300,000 helping buyers save up to £5,000 on their purchases.

Speaking today in Stockton, Teesside, Miliband is expected to say that there needs to be urgent action taken to address the low numbers of houses being built and the falling levels of home ownership.

“There’s nothing more British than the dream of home ownership, and home ownership is out of reach for so many people in our country,” he will say.

“It’s the right thing to do to enable people to get back on the housing ladder and that’s what a Labour government will do.”

Miliband will also address fears that new houses could be used as investment opportunities rather than much needed homes.

“It is no good people seeing houses going up in their community, if they are then not able to buy them because they are snapped up by investors from overseas,” he will say.

The Conservatives have described Labour’s plans as “panicky”, unfunded, and costing twice what the Labour Party is forecasting.

Over the weekend, Boris Johnson described the party’s plans to link rent to the rate of inflation for new three-year contracts. Chancellor George Osborne dismissed the plans as “economically illiterate”.