Conservatives vow to scrap stamp duty under Badenoch’s leadership

United Kingdom — Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has announced that a future Tory government would abolish stamp duty on main homes in England and Northern Ireland, in what she called a “bold step to revive home ownership.”

Delivering her first party conference speech in Manchester, Badenoch said the tax “kills social mobility” and that removing it would help create a “fairer, more aspirational society.”

The surprise announcement received a standing ovation from party members, with Badenoch declaring: “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 the plan, stamp duty would still apply to second homes, corporate purchases and properties bought by non-UK residents. The policy is expected to cost up to £9 billion, which Badenoch said would be covered through savings in the welfare and foreign aid budgets.

Stamp duty currently raises about £13.9 billion annually for the Treasury. The move marks a clear dividing line with Labour, whose leader Sir Keir Starmer has yet to comment on the proposal.