It is always gratifying in the House of Commons to have one’s ideas greeted by colleagues with ‘Hear, hear’. That was the response to my suggestion that Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) and Stamp Duty should be abolished altogether, reflecting that it is an issue on which ‘real Conservatives who believe in a home-owning democracy should be able to agree’.

Constituents often ask me about the disillusionment of young people from politics. One answer is that the current generation of politicians has failed to match the aspirations of young people for home ownership and the ability thereby to take more responsibility for their own lives.
In 1989, 51% of 25 to 34-year-olds owned their own home. Now only about half that number do.
Twenty five years ago, a first time buyer’s house would cost an average of 2.1 times earnings. Now the multiple is 5.5 times.
The consequence is that 1.3 million young people who would have owned a home in 1989 are not able to own one today and the average age of a first time buyer has risen to an all-time high of 34. Recent significant increases in mortgage borrowing costs coupled with the squeeze on incomes and higher personal taxes are making this worse.

Lack of affordability in the Christchurch constituency is even more of an issue. The average house price is £405,000, 11.8 times earnings, compared with the national average of eight times earnings. Ironically, the higher prices attract higher SDLT which is based on the false assumption that the price of a house is related to ability to pay.

In Christchurch SDLT can add an additional £10,000 to the cost of an average-priced house.
The Truss Government in September recognised these problems and introduced changes to SDLT which would take 200,000 home buyers, including 60,000 first-time buyers, out of SDLT entirely. Inexplicably, that reduction has now been made temporary and when it is reversed in 2025 will add at least £1billion to the overall tax burden which is already at a 70-year high.
This is despite the Prime Minister having said, in his New Year message, that he wishes to reduce taxes.
The link between the burden of housing transaction taxes and home ownership is well evidenced.
Prior to 1997, it was a maximum of 1%. It is now as high as 12%.

The Sunak government now has the chance to implement radical policies to expand home ownership, particularly among young people.
Abolishing Stamp Duty would be a great start and make up for the absence of any reference by the Prime Minister to either housing or home ownership in his speech of January 4 about the people’s priorities.