Finance Bill

Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville Excerpts

2nd reading & Committee negatived & 3rd reading & 2nd reading (Hansard) & 2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords & 3rd reading (Hansard) & 3rd reading (Hansard): House of Lords & Committee negatived (Hansard) & Committee negatived (Hansard): House of Lords
Friday 17th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (LD) [V]]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale. I am grateful to the Minister for introducing this debate. I shall speak on the temporary reduction in stamp duty as part of the Government’s plan to get the economy moving again. People moving home for a variety of reasons, including downsizing or upsizing, may have a small effect in stimulating the economy, but the building of desperately needed new homes could have a definite positive effect. The timeframe is exceedingly short in terms of stimulating housebuilding. Planning permission has been given for more than 1 million homes in the past 10 years, as my noble friend Lord Shipley said. Seventy per cent of the planning permissions are held by 10 developers and work on the houses has not yet started. It could be started this weekend. What measures are the Government putting in place to ensure that those developers start and finish the sites as a matter of priority? People need decent homes and they need them now. The stamp duty holiday is a bonus, but unless the housebuilding industry gets a move on, many potential purchasers will lose out.

The stamp duty measure should be a boost to first-time buyers, but it is unlikely to be so. It is more likely that those with spare capital looking for holiday homes will snap up homes from under the noses of those trying to get on the housing ladder. Fishing villages in Cornwall and cottages in our national parks in Cumbria or the Peak District are very attractive to those escaping the towns and cities. This measure does nothing for those living and working in rural and coastal areas who are able to afford only properties in the shrinking rental market. The stamp duty holiday is a golden opportunity for potential second home owners.

There is of course the issue of geography. The Resolution Foundation has said that a non-first-time purchaser looking for a home at the average English house price will save £2,500 as a result of the stamp duty holiday, but the average buyer in the north-east will see no gain, while those in London will be more than £14,000 better off.

I would have liked to welcome this measure in the hope that it will assist families with young children and newly-weds to live in rural areas of their choice, rather than being forced into the towns, but I doubt that will happen. The cost of this measure is £3.8 billion —money that could have been targeted at improving the supply of low-cost housing for those on lower incomes. This is a wasted opportunity.