Clause 163

Part of Finance (No. 2) Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 12:30 pm on 20 June 2006.

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Photo of Edward Balls Edward Balls The Economic Secretary to the Treasury 12:30, 20 June 2006

I completely agree with the hon. Lady. She is pointing to the wider issue of housing policy and to the need to tackle the still substantial deficiency in the supply of new housing, particularly in the south. Despite the substantial extra investment that has gone into social housing and despite the Barker review, we are still not building enough houses, which means that it is much more difficult for a first-time buyer on average or below-average income to get on the housing ladder than it was 20 years ago.

I completely accept the hon. Lady’s point but, frankly, although stamp duty can play a role in dealing with the issue, it will not solve the problem in any way. There are things that we can do to help first-time buyers, and stamp duty is part of that. Stamp duty also plays an important role in raising revenue in our economy and in making the housing market work efficiently. The problem with saying easy things such as, “Why don’t you move from a slab system to a slice system?” or “Why don’t you abolish stamp duty entirely, or raise its limits substantially?” is that that costs billions of pounds that would have to be found somewhere else. Simply doing those things without addressing the fundamental point of housing supply in our country would not meet the challenge in her constituency and constituencies throughout the country.

I was taunted earlier about housing issues by the hon. Member for Fareham, who looked forward to tomorrow’s debate on housing policy on the Floor of the House. Over the breakfast table this morning, I read a quote from the hon. Member for Chipping Barnet (Mrs. Villiers), the shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. She said to her constituents last year:

“Suburbs like Barnet are under attack from John Prescott’s excessive targets for new house building.”

She also said:

“Mrs. May has called on our council to fight the Government plans which she believes will turn the royal boroughs into a concrete jungle”—