Today in Politics: Housing wars
The much-vaunted not-the-relaunch of the Brown Government finally took off today, when it announced measures to boost the ailing housing market - including a year-long "holiday" for buyers of homes worth between £125,000 and £175,000, loans for first-time buyers and "shared ownership" allowing people to rent rather than buy all or part of their home when they run into trouble with their mortgage payments rather than face repossession.
So far, the measures to prevent householders losing their homes have received a broad welcome, although interest groups are saying they don't do far enough (they always do). There's criticism that the £175,000 limit on relief from stamp duty will not help many people in London or the South East. Gordon Brown launched his package in Ealing, west London - where only nine flats and not a single house on the market would qualify.
The Tories are pointing out that the Treasury will not say where the £600m cost of the stamp cut duty will come from until next week's Pre-Budget Report. But the Tories' ability to crow about what they are calling Brown's "short-term survival plan" has been limited by an own goal.
In an accident of timing, it has emerged that families would be allowed to inherit £2m tax free under a Tory Government - twice the £1m allowance announced a year ago, because it would be transferable between husbands and wives. Labour is understandably accusing the Tories of offering "tax cuts for millionaires".
Whatever happened to David Cameron's recent pitch for the Tories to be the "true progressives" in British politics and to stand up for the poor?
//Whatever happened to David Cameron's recent pitch for the Tories to be the "true progressives" in British politics and to stand up for the poor?//
That's been shown to be so much hot air today. Of course, some of us were never taken in by the leopard's claim to have changed his spots. How many in the media can say the same?
Posted by: Labour Matters | Tuesday, 02 September 2008 at 05:35 PM
No-one who examines the details of the Labour failed relaunch will be taken in by the limited ambition of what they are proposing. It is too little to have a real impact with too little detail as to how it will be paid for.
And as for Yvette Cooper's smokescreen efforts with regards to inheritance tax - that is all it is, no-one will take a blind bit of notice of a party that has massively increased the tax burden on the poorest sectors of our society.
Inheritance tax has always been the least progressive of taxes. Why should the state take a proportion of an estate just because someone has died? Who can make a political or moral case for it? Surely an individual must be free to make whatever decisions they like as to how to dispose of their assets on their death - it has nothing to do with the state. You pay taxes throughout your life - why should your death precipitate a demand from the state for a further cut?
Posted by: Simon | Tuesday, 02 September 2008 at 05:44 PM
The Government could wind up with egg over its face. Take taxpayer loans to 1st time buyers for example, assuming that property prices are still falling this time next year a 1st time buyer with Brown's handout would probably wind up as a new negative equity victim of the Brown bubble not a winner and guess what the bubble will not go away until property prices reach a sustainable level and how long that will take is anyones guess.Anyone thinking of taking the plunge any time soon on current trends is taking quite a big gamble.It looks to me that the only winner in this iniative could possibly be a certain politician trying to save his short term neck hoping,in the words of Mr Micawber, that someting will turn up in the meantime.
Posted by: Rob | Tuesday, 02 September 2008 at 09:20 PM