It wasn’t so much Badenoch’s performance on the circuit that saved her, more the proposal to cut Stamp Duty Land Tax on primary residences.  It was a good effort.  After all, stamp duty does need reform: it is a tax on buying and selling houses – on moving.  It is a barrier to downsizing for the old and upsizing for growing families. It penalises moves that would enable more efficient use of the UK’s scarce housing stock. It inhibits the market.

But I would argue that the stamp duty proposal didn’t go far enough. While annual receipts for stamp duty came to £18.3bn in 2024-25, the Tories are only cutting approximately £9.5bn of that. I would argue Badenoch’s proposal lacks ambition. We need to cut stamp duty entirely.

Of course, the Conservative Party has only suggested policy while in opposition, rather than in any of the years between 2010 and 2024 when it was actually in power. First, that smacks of desperation to me.  And second, who knows when the Conservative Party will next win an election? They should have done this when they were in government.

•   B&C Awards 2025: The Video
•   Black & White Bridging launches new website and light rebrand
•   Majority of small businesses fear Autumn Budget will negatively impact growth plans says Novuna research

Leaving that aside, my main point is that by keeping stamp duty on segments of the market like BTL properties, the party is still punishing renters. Indeed, how else does the extortionate landlord surcharge get paid if not through higher rents? Badenoch should be out there making the case for lower taxes to support the private rented sector (PRS), not just owner-occupiers. The PRS is a vital piece of the country’s housing puzzle.  We should be supporting landlords who drive a good percentage of our property construction — as well as the conversion of existing buildings to homes.

I don’t just want to bleat for more money though. I believe you cut your coat to suit your cloth and I appreciate the cash needs to come from somewhere. To ensure this move would be revenue neutral, I think the costs must be covered from cuts to public spending. The health and disability benefits bill is set to reach £75.7bn by 2029/30.  You could pay the annual stamp duty bill in 120 days.

At the very least, we could start by making the government machine more efficient via the use of more AI. We oppose the use of AI in short-term lending as it’s fundamentally a relationship-centric proposition. Our business is lean and built on people. We believe it would be counterproductive to use it in our own organisation.

But the government has a different set of priorities and needs to take advantage of AI’s efficiency benefits to help cut costs behind the scenes, speed up their processes, and ultimately act faster.