Tories will scrap stamp duty on primary residences, Kemi Badenoch tells conference

Leader announces tax cut plan for England and Northern Ireland in policy-heavy speech aimed at boosting fiscal credibility

The Conservatives will scrap stamp duty on sales of primary residences if they win the next election, Kemi Badenoch has said in a policy-heavy speech designed to improve her party’s economic credibility.

The Tory leader told her party’s conference that in England and Northern Ireland she would abolish the tax that new buyers have to pay on house purchases over £125,000. The Conservatives calculate that this would cost £9bn a year to the Treasury. Stamp duty would still apply to additional properties and properties bought by companies, and for purchases by non-UK residents.