News / Politics

UK Labour leader vows support for first-time buyers

Monday, 27 April 2015 3:27 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 27 April 2015 3:27 PM ]

Labour vows support for first-time home buyers in Britain. (file photo)

The UK Labour leader, Ed Miliband has pledged to help first-time home buyers by exempting them from paying stamp duty on homes worth less than £300,000.

“There’s nothing more British than the dream of home ownership, and home ownership is out of reach for so many in this country,” Miliband said.

“It’s the right thing to enable people to get back on the housing ladder and that’s what a Labour government will do,” he added.

The Labour leader believes that coming down harder on landlords who avoid tax will fund the £225 million stamp duty promise. Miliband has blamed the low building of new houses as a major contributing factor to the rise in house prices and the stagnation of wages that many people endure across the country.

The Tories have slammed Miliband’s proposals, calling them “panicky” and saying that they are unfunded and would cost twice as much as they are saying.

They have put the extension of the “right to buy” scheme at the heart of their housing plans. This scheme was former Tory leader and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s flagship housing policy and caused great controversy throughout the country.

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats have slammed Labour’s housing proposal, saying their “sums do not add up.” They claim that they are the only party that will restrain Labour from spending too much and stop the Tories from cutting too harsh.

LM/GHN

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