Tories promise to scrap stamp duty if they win next election

The Conservatives will abolish stamp duty if they win the next election, Kemi Badenoch has announced.

Speaking to the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, the Tory leader described stamp duty - the tax paid when a new home is purchased - as a "bad tax" and an "unconservative tax". She said she had looked at lowering the thresholds at which stamp duty is paid but decided such a move would not be "enough".

Politics latest: 'The Conservatives are back', says shadow minister Unveiling the surprise announcement, she told the conference: "The last Conservative government cut stamp duty for thousands of home buyers. "But now we must go further.

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. "The next Conservative government will abolish stamp duty on your home." Ms Badenoch said the move - which was warmly welcomed by the conference audience - would be paid for by delivering £47bn in spending cuts.

It includes £7bn in the overseas aid budget, £8bn from the civil service and £23bn from welfare. Last year stamp duty raised more than £18bn for the Treasury.

According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, abolishing stamp duty on people's primary residence would currently cost around £4.5bn. The Conservatives claim scrapping the tax will cost £9bn "due to the dramatic tax increase" they believe the chancellor is planning in the November budget.

The policy will apply irrespective of purchase price for primary residences, but it will not apply to additional properties, the party later confirmed. It will also not apply for properties purchased by companies or by non-UK residents.

Scotland or Wales are also not included in the policy as separate taxation exists in the two nations. Ms Badenoch made the announcement in a speech in which she sought to portray the Tories as the party of "fiscal responsibility" and outlined her "golden rule" for spending: that half the cash from any cuts will go towards bringing down the deficit.

The rest would go towards tax cuts and stimulating growth in the economy, she said. But Anna Turley, chair of the Labour Party, accused Ms Badenoch of being in "complete denial".

"The public saw the Tories' disastrous blueprint for Britain across their 14 years of failure in government - and the Conservatives still won't apologise for the mess they left," she said. "Kemi Badenoch set herself a new 'golden economic rule' today and broke it immediately.

It's the same old Tories, with the same old policies without a plan. They didn't work then and you can't trust them now." The stamp duty announcement was one of several policy offerings announced by the Tories as Ms Badenoch attempts to steal the agenda away from Nigel Farage and Reform UK, who are significantly ahead in the polls.

Read more:Jenrick urged to apologise for 'disgraceful' integration commentsStarmer blames Tories for China spy trial being dropped Much of the criticism that has been directed at Ms Badenoch has been centred on her lack of visibility and policy agenda, which some Conservative MPs believe has created a vacuum for Mr Farage to fill with his own announcements to tackle immigration - including leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and carrying out mass deportations. The Conservatives unveiled their own immigration plans which emulate Reform's, and have also committed to leaving the ECHR - a treaty critics believe is being used to frustrate deportations - and to carrying out ICE-style raids.

Other announcements include abolishing business rates for about 250,000 high street shops and pubs if they win the next election. Despite the policy blitz, Ms Badenoch has still been subject to a number of briefings about her leadership, given the party's poor standing in the polls, at just 17% of the vote.

On Monday a YouGov poll of Tory members for Sky News showed half did not want Ms Badenoch to lead the party into the next election, and showed a preference Mr Jenrick, her former leadership rival, to take over..