The Tories stole their new stamp duty policy from Labour's 2015 manifesto

Stamp duty will be scrapped immediately for first-time buyers of homes below £300,000, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond announced in the 2017 Conservative Budget.

Mr Hammond said the move would cut the tax for 95 per cent of first time buyers and abolish it altogether for 80 per cent:

So, with effect from today, for all first-time buyer purchases up to £300,000, I am abolishing stamp duty altogether.

To ensure that this relief also helps first time buyers in very high price areas like London, it will also be available on the first £300,000 of the purchase price of properties up to £500,000.

Meaning an effective reduction of £5,000.

A stamp duty cut for 95 per cent of all first-time buyers who pay stamp duty.

And no stamp duty at all for 80 per cent of first time buyers from today.

Mr Deputy Speaker.

When we say we will revive the home-owning dream in Britain.

We mean it.

The OBR, however, have predicted that the stamp duty change will see a rise in house prices of around 0.3 per cent.

This means that new homeowners would likely pay a larger deposit.This information has left a sour taste in the mouths of some:

People also pointed out this housing policy change only helps those with the money to put down a deposit on a fairly expensive house.

It also does nothing for those who have seen their wages stagnate for years.

The kicker to this policy announcement being that it was directly cribbed from the Labour Manifesto in 2015.

Ed Miliband's Labour party would have exempted first-time buyers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland when buying homes below £300,000 for three years.

The policy would also encourage local house purchases, giving local residents "first call" on half of new homes in their area.

Foreign buyers would also have faced more tax with house purchases.

It's the latest grab from a Conservative party which has a long history of pilfering Labour policies and passing them off as their own.

You might as well move the Edstone to Downing Street.

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