Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
Housing market measures
178. For most people the acquisition of a house is the biggest single investment they will make. Homeowners rightly expect their investment to be protected by sensible policies pursued by Government.
179. I am determined that as a country we never return to the instability, speculation, and negative equity that characterised the housing market in the 1980s and 1990s.
180. Volatility is damaging both to the housing market and to the economy as a whole.
181. So stability will be central to our policy to help homeowners. And we must be prepared to take the action necessary to secure it.
182. I will not allow house prices to get out of control and put at risk the sustainability of the recovery.
183. I have therefore decided it is right to take two measures aimed at stability in the housing market.
184. First I will raise stamp duty from 1 per cent to 1.5 per cent on property sales above £250,000 and to 2 per cent for property sales above £500,000. This will take immediate effect after the Budget resolution has been voted by the House.
185. Second, continuing the reforms begun by the previous Government which removed mortgage tax relief at the higher rate of 40 per cent in 1991, and cut it to 15 per cent by 1995, I propose to reduce mortgage tax relief by a further 5 per cent from 15 per cent to 10 per cent from April 1998.
186. The timing of my measure should help to avoid a return to the conditions of the 1980s where the failure to take early action guaranteed worse problems later on.
187. I believe these measures will help to ensure a more balanced recovery.
The gap between Gordon Brown’s 1997 Budget promises and the reality of what Labour allowed to happen would be funny if the consequences of his dishonesty hadn’t been so serious.
As one of the thirty-something generation priced out of home ownership by an asset bubble that inflated faster than my salary grew, I say bring on the crash and end the bail-outs of irresponsible lenders. And kick out the party that presided over this socially disastrous boom.
Brown’s budget promises of 1997 have proved as believable as the official inflation figure of 3%. Anecdotally, my food and electricity bills are up around 15% so far this year and rents have been rising by around 8% pa for a long while.
Anyone who thinks the conservatives will be better is deluded.
The most controversial proposal in the report, which aims to improve the competitiveness of the British economy, would see a Tory government restore the opt-out from the European Social Chapter, which was removed by Labour in 1997. Redwood will also call for EU working time regulations to be repealed.
Although Labour have proved to be every bit as mendacious, greedy and incompetent as the Tories were, in Redwood’s casual proposal to strip part-time and freelance workers (whose wages have stagnated for nearly a decade) of their pro-rata holiday pay and to remove the sparse legal protection low-wage workers enjoy in the UK, we can clearly see the Conservative contempt for anything but profit.
Growing up under Thatcher means I will never vote for that party of self-interest and greed. Her party created this situation; Labour’s main fault lies in refusing to reverse the damage. A decade of Blairite lies and Brownite economic mismanagement has finally driven me to the Liberal Democrats. I think Nick Clegg is a populist fool but maybe that’s what you need to win an election in the brain-dead, celebrity-obsessed wasteland Britain has become. Nonetheless, Vincent Cable, a man who seems widely respected on both political wings of the press, is a man who deserves more influence.
I’ve been dreaming of a time when
The English are sick to death of Labour, And Tories
Too many people consider a vote for the Liberal Democrats to be a wasted vote. But the belief that they can never get in becomes self-fulfilling. They made real progress in the recent elections and I hope that will only continue. Britain deserves better. Maybe the Liberal Democrats are the answer.