Fix pensions, death tax and stamp duty: our manifesto

The shock resignation of Sajid Javid as chancellor just a few weeks before his first Budget has the future of our wallets shrouded in uncertainty.

Many will hope his replacement, the rising star Rishi Sunak, will tear up policies such as the mansion tax. But some experts are not so sure.

Tom McPhail of Hargreaves Lansdown, the investment company, speculated that Mr Javid’s background in the Treasury under George Osborne could mean he was keen to keep a tight rein on the purse strings. He said Mr Johnson’s administration was likely to increase public spending – and might resort to taxing the wealthy to pay for it.

But while some increase in public spending is welcome, Mr Sunak should heed the warning signs and pledge not to punish prudent savers, workers and investors. Here is Telegraph Money’s advice to the new Chancellor.

MANSION TAX

The rumours that Mr Johnson and

Mr Javid were plotting to introduce a mansion tax – which would be the first wealth tax in Britain since 1696 – angered Conservative MPs and voters.

Sir John Redwood, Tory MP for Wokingham and a member of John Major’s cabinet, said: “[People] didn’t vote for a diluted version of Corbyn’s tax raids on the rich.”

Another Conservative MP, Nickie Aiken, said it was unfair to punish people for having seen the value of their homes grow, leaving some “asset rich and comparatively cash poor”.

Many voters did not take kindly to the plans either. Among those with a valuable home but little income is Celia Prichard, 82, who lives in a house worth about £2m in south London. It was bought in the Sixties for just £12,500, just over £200,000 in today’s prices.

She took out an equity release loan on the property to fund care for her husband, Stephen, who died 10 years ago at the age of 79. This limits her options.

“One of the reasons it [a mansion

Telegraph Money lays out its checklist for the new Chancellor to deliver in his first Budget