Overview

• In a keynote speech at the Manchester conference, the Conservative leader called the levy a “bad tax” and vowed to “abolish stamp duty on your home.”
• Coverage differs on whether the promise applies only to primary residences or to all home sales, and no implementation timetable or draft legislation was released.
• The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates abolition for main homes would cost about £4.5bn a year, while the Conservatives cite a cautious £9bn figure tied to their assumptions about future policy.
• Badenoch said the change would be paid for from £47bn of identified savings under a new “golden rule” splitting proceeds between deficit reduction and tax cuts, highlighting welfare, civil service and overseas aid as targets.
• Pro-market voices such as the Institute of Economic Affairs welcomed scrapping the tax, as Badenoch used the pledge to galvanize a party trailing Labour and Reform UK in recent polls.