Kemi Badenoch's Big Gamble: Can Scrapping Stamp Duty Save the Tories? | IEA Podcast

In this Institute of Economic Affairs podcast, Head of Media Reem Ibrahim is joined by IEA Executive Director Tom Clougherty and Editorial Director Kristian Niemietz to discuss the aftermath of Conservative Party Conference. The conversation examines Kemi Badenoch’s headline announcement to abolish stamp duty land tax on primary residences, alongside the party’s proposed £47 billion in spending cuts through their new “golden rule.” They analyse why stamp duty is Britain’s most distortionary tax, costing 75p in economic damage for every pound raised, and how abolishing it could unlock a frozen property market where people now move house half as often as they did a generation ago.

The discussion turns to the Conservative Party’s commitment to maintaining the triple lock on pensions, despite it consuming over 10% of total public spending - more than education, policing and defence combined. Tom explains how the triple lock ensures state pensions will rise faster than earnings while the population ages, creating an unsustainable fiscal trajectory that could add £200 billion in today’s money to public spending by 2070. The panel explores the political tension between young Conservative activists pushing for planning liberalisation and an ageing voter base now averaging seventy years old, and whether the party can escape this electoral trap.

The conversation concludes with an examination of the Green Party conference vote to effectively abolish the private rental market through rent controls, mandatory tenant buyback schemes, and council takeovers of unsold properties. Kristian and Reem critique these proposals as ignoring basic market signals and supply constraints, arguing that similar thinking influences parts of the Labour Party. The panel makes the case that whether discussing Conservative stamp duty abolition or Green Party rental policies, the fundamental solution to Britain’s housing crisis remains the same: radical planning liberalisation to massively increase housing supply.

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