James Cleverly: Abolishing stamp duty is the clearest sign that only the Conservatives back aspiration

Sir James Cleverly is shadow secretary of state for housing, communities and local government.

Aspiration is at heart of Conservatism.

We believe people who work hard, save, and play by the rules deserve the chance to get on in life. Home ownership is core to that belief. The dignity of having your own front door, somewhere to raise a family, put down roots, become part of a community.

Yet for millions, that dream is drifting further out of reach. Labour’s instinct is always to tax more and spend more, and then tax more still. And this year they did exactly that. They let the higher thresholds we introduced to lapse and pushed thousands more first-time buyers into paying Stamp Duty. Under Labour, even aspiration is taxed.

Stamp Duty is a fundamentally un-Conservative tax. It punishes movement, it stifles the housing market, it traps families.

It tells the young to wait, and the old to stay put. It is a broken tax that locks up the housing ladder for everyone.

I called for Stamp Duty to be scrapped when I ran for the leadership. And I’m delighted, but not surprised, that Kemi decided to make this a key part of our plans for government. We looked carefully at every option, tweaking thresholds, reshaping bands, and the verdict was obvious. You can’t patch a broken tax.

The only fair, honest, pro-growth answer is to abolish Stamp Duty altogether for family homes.

Last week in Chelmsford, Kemi and I heard from families who simply cannot move because of Stamp Duty. One couple wanted to upsize as their children grew, but the tax bill wiped out their deposit. Another, a retired couple, were desperate to downsize but refused to lose tens of thousands of pounds to the Treasury just for moving house. These cases are repeated in every town in Britain.

Pensioners who want to move to smaller, more manageable homes are told they can’t afford to. Removing Stamp Duty would let them move without penalty, freeing up their hard-earned savings rather than handing them to the taxman. Downsizing brings its own benefits. Lower energy bills, lower council tax bills, lower maintenance costs, and more financial freedom in later life. And every downsizer moving frees up a family-sized home. Abolishing Stamp Duty would release millions of such homes back into the market, helping the young while respecting the older generation.

The benefits ripple far beyond those individuals. Every move means lower energy bills, smaller council tax, and greater financial freedom in later life. Around 2.8 million older homeowners say they’d downsize if Stamp Duty were scrapped, family homes put back on the market. A lifeline for young people desperate to buy their first. A good policy can serve both generations at once.

Across Britain, people turn down promotions or better jobs because they can’t afford to move. Businesses can’t fill vacancies because workers can’t relocate. Stamp Duty freezes opportunity. It’s an invisible drag on productivity and a direct tax on ambition.

For a government that talks endlessly about growth, Labour is ignoring one of the simplest levers to achieve it. Abolishing Stamp Duty would make Britain more mobile and more dynamic by allowing people to follow opportunity rather than be held back. It would help businesses find the skills they need and help workers take the jobs they deserve.

Stamp Duty also deepens regional inequality. The thresholds were set years ago and never adjusted for inflation or for changing housing markets outside London and the South East. In places like Wolverhampton, Wigan, and Warrington, ordinary family homes are now pushed into higher tax bands that were originally meant for luxury properties. And the economic case is undeniable. Every home sale sets off a chain reaction.

Movers, decorators, builders, furniture shops, tradespeople, local businesses. Stamp Duty breaks that chain. Removing it will get the market moving again, driving growth from the ground up.

This policy is about who we are as a nation.

Britain has always been strongest when people have a stake in their community. When families own their homes, take pride in their streets, they feel they belong. Stamp Duty undermines that. It tells people that aspiration is something to be taxed.

Owning your own home is more than a financial milestone. By scrapping Stamp Duty, we restore that pride, that ownership, that stake in Britain’s future.

Labour see home ownership as a privilege. We see it as a right for anyone who works hard and wants to build a better life. They raise taxes to pay for their mistakes. We want government to take less of your money and let you decide how to use it.

Unlike Labour and Reform, the Conservatives have set out exactly how this policy will be paid for. Welfare reform, civil service savings, and ending the use of asylum hotels. Because sound money must go hand in hand with opportunity.

Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are welcome to copy this policy if they wish. But they won’t because they don’t believe in aspiration. We do.

Abolishing Stamp Duty will change lives, free families, grow the economy, and restore the dream of home ownership.

Only the Conservatives have the plan, the discipline, and the determination to deliver it.