PM targets holiday homes to win back votes
Doubling of council tax on empty second properties, to appeal to South, among plans in Queen’s Speech
OWNERS of second homes who do not rent out their properties will be hit with double council tax under plans to be unveiled in the Queen’s Speech this week, as Boris Johnson attempts to reset his premiership by focusing on the “people’s priorities”.
The Government will lay out a raft of new policies in the speech tomorrow in a legislative programme designed to reverse the Conservatives’ electoral fortunes following a drubbing at the local elections last week.
They will include seven new postbrexit Bills to cut red tape and boost the economy, two new Bills on Northern Ireland, and powers for councils to seize unused shops in high streets.
Local authorities will also be given discretionary powers to increase council tax by 100 per cent on second homes that are not either used or let out by their owners for at least 70 days per year, in a crackdown on empty holiday homes in picturesque areas that are pushing up property prices.
Wealthy owners who do not let their properties out or use them enough will be expected to contribute to “crucial services in a way that can really benefit the whole community and boost levelling up”, a government source said.
Empty homes, which are defined as unused properties that are not furnished, will also be subject to a doubling of council tax after 12 months of being left vacant. Under the current system, they can be left for two years.
The policy is designed to appeal to voters in the south of England, where
Mr Johnson appears to be losing support, and sources said the money raised could be used to cut council tax.
Yesterday the Liberal Democrats published a list of 10 “blue wall” seats they believe are most likely to flip away from the Conservatives, including Dominic Raab’s constituency of Esher and Walton. Asked whether he thought he would lose his seat at the next election, Mr Raab acknowledged he faced a “tough fight” to hold on to it.
Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem deputy leader, said her party could enter into a coalition with Labour after the next election in an effort to deny Mr Johnson another majority, after the Tories lost more than 500 council seats.
“The Liberal Democrats have said that we want to win as many seats as possible off the Conservatives at the next general election, and one way or another we would like to play a role in ousting this Conservative government,” she said. The declaration comes after her party made significant gains in Tory strongholds in the local elections, including in Somerset, which is now controlled by the Lib Dems.
Tom Tugendhat, the Conservative MP for Tonbridge and Malling in Kent, said yesterday that his party needed to avoid alienating southern voters with planning reform.
“One of the things that came up even more for me in the south of England was planning and we need to address the fact that the Garden of England cannot become the Patio of England”, he said.
“We need to make sure that communities across the United Kingdom have a say in what is built near them.”
However, the Queen’s Speech will also attempt to win back voters in northern, Brexit-voting “red wall” seats, where the Tories made gains in 2019 but are now at risk of losing support.
Yesterday Jacob Rees-mogg, the Brexit opportunities minister, appeared to rule out more measures to ease the cost of living crisis because “increasing the deficit would – in and of itself – be inflationary”. “The Government can change things in the longer and the medium term. It cannot change what is going to happen over the next few weeks and months,” he said.
The Sunday Express reported that the legislation would include seven postbrexit Bills, including charters on trade deals with Australia and New Zealand and a “Brexit Freedoms Bill” to slash European Union red tape that remains on the statute books.
The speech will also announce two new Bills on Northern Ireland, including a statute of limitations on the prosecution of Troubles veterans, and a Bill on the Irish and Ulster-scots languages.
A government source said: “This will be a crucial week in which we set out the Government’s ambitious agenda for the next parliamentary session, putting measures into law that will deliver on the people’s priorities.”