I want to mention two in particular, as they will greatly help people living in areas like my constituency of Orpington.
First, we will abolish Stamp Duty on people’s main homes.
Stamp Duty has always struck me as one of those taxes that punishes people for trying to get on in life.
It traps families in homes that no longer fit their needs and makes it harder for young people to buy their first property.
It’s a bad tax — and it’s time to scrap it.
Removing Stamp Duty will make moving home simpler and fairer.
It will help young people in Orpington get onto the housing ladder, make it easier for growing families to move somewhere bigger, and support older people who might want to downsize.
Crucially, it will get the market moving again and free up much-needed space.
Second, we will abolish business rates for high street shops and pubs.
I regularly hear from small business owners across Orpington who are feeling the strain.
Whether it’s National Insurance going up, rates doubling, or ever-increasing energy bills, the pressure is relentless.
Since last year’s Budget, more than 1,100 pubs and restaurants have closed for good and around 80,000 jobs have been lost from our hospitality sector in the UK.
That can’t go on.
After listening to those affected, we’ve now come up with a fully costed plan to scrap business rates altogether for shops and pubs.
It will benefit around 250,000 businesses nationwide.
There was a clear focus at this conference: we must live within our means, and that means being upfront about how we’ll pay for these policies.
That’s the right approach as borrowing hits record highs and we brace ourselves for further tax rises in the Autumn Budget.
We will bring the welfare bill under control (the previous government had identified £12 billion in savings), end inflation-busting pay awards for striking unions (recent deals for the likes of junior doctors and train drivers have cost around £11.6 billion), and axe GB Energy — an £8 billion quango that doesn’t even produce any energy.
I’ll be sharing further properly thought through and costed policies in the months ahead — all focused on creating jobs, making life easier for everyone, and helping the people of Orpington to succeed.
