Articles | Stamp duty suspension?

Stamp duty suspension?

Published: Tuesday, 5 August 2008, 10:58AM

A temporary suspension of stamp duty could reportedly be among measures aimed at helping Britain through the credit crunch.

Gordon Brown will hold a special Cabinet meeting outside London in coming weeks as part of his political fightback. It could mean a Cabinet reshuffle and the publication of an economic recovery plan.

Mr Brown has said he will put tackling "fuel poverty" at the top of his agenda and the package is also thought to include a temporary scrapping of stamp duty.

House prices have fallen by almost 10 per cent from their peak last August as the credit crunch makes it harder and more expensive to get mortgage finance.

Stamp duty raised more than £14 billion in the last fiscal year, of which around 70 per cent came from property.

Earlier, Chancellor Alistair Darling said the Government is looking at a number of measures to help people during tougher economic times.

The Chancellor said Mr Brown is "very focussed" on what the Government needs to do to recapture people's enthusiasm.

Mr Darling admitted it is "very difficult to speculate" on what will happen to house prices in the coming year, but it is "perfectly true" the British economy will slow down, he said.

Questioned over plans for the temporary suspension of stamp duty he said: "I am looking at a number of measures and I am not going to be drawn on that today because we have not concluded what exactly we need to do.

"It is helping people that is important. I want to look at a range of options that will help people."