Miliband taunts Tories on home ownership as he makes promise over stamp duty

ED Miliband has taunted the Tories, suggesting they are no longer the party of home ownership as he announced a Labour government would introduce a stamp-duty holiday for thousands of first-time buyers.

In a campaign speech in Stockton-on-Tees, the party leader insisted a future Labour administration would “restore the dream of home ownership” by scrapping stamp duty on homes worth up to £300,000 for first-time buyers south of the Border.

He announced that a sixth promise — to deliver “homes to buy and action on rents” — was being added to the pledge card he launched earlier in the election campaign. The new pledge covers not only stamp duty but also limits on private rent rises in England, which he set out at the weekend.

Higher taxes will be imposed on foreign buyers and up to half of new homes will be earmarked for local residents trying to get a foot on the property ladder as part of Mr Miliband’s plans to tackle what he termed a “housing crisis”.

Cutting stamp duty to zero over next three years would benefit nine out of ten people buying their first home and could save up to £5,000, according to Labour.

The plan would cost £225 million a year, which, Mr Miliband explained, would be found through a series of tax-related measures.

But the Conservatives dismissed the proposal as “panicky and unfunded” while the Liberal Democrats said: “No-one should trust Labour to deliver this commitment because their sums simply do not add up.”

Support for home ownership represents a bid by Labour to seize traditional Conservative territory after David Cameron revived the Thatcherite right-tobuy policy for housingassociation tenants in an attempt to win over voters struggling to enter the property market.

Mr Miliband derided Tories as a “party that used to say they were the party of home ownership” as he accused the Prime Minister of presiding over the lowest levels of housebuilding in peacetime since the 1920s and owneroccupation at its lowest level in 30 years.

A Conservative spokesman said: “This panicky, unfunded announcement is something Labour have tried before and it failed. This will not distract from Ed Miliband’s inability to say what deals he will make with the SNP to prop him up in Downing Street.”