The Labor Party will promise to get more young people onto the housing ladder when it announces its “freedom to buy” scheme on Friday.
The party will commit to making the current mortgage guarantee scheme – which sees the government acting as a guarantor for people unable to save large deposits – on a permanent basis if it wins the 4th of July elections.
Sir Keir Starmer will also commit to an overhaul of the planning system, including the reintroduction of housing targets, claiming his measures will enable the construction of a further 1.5 million homes over the next five years.
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“After 14 years of Conservative government, the dream of owning a home is out of reach for many hard-working people,” he will say.
“Despite doing everything right, they can’t move on. A generation faces the risk of becoming renters for life.
“My parents’ home gave them security and was the foundation of our family. As Prime Minister, I will make the dream of owning a home a reality.”
But publicizing her party much maligned claim that Labor will increase people’s taxes by more than £2,000 in the next parliament to pay for its policies, Conservative Treasury Chief Secretary Laura Trott said: “The truth is that Labour’s tax operation will punish first-time buyers trip.
“What’s worse, their refusal to support our Home Tax Guarantee is the strongest signal yet that your home is next in the Labor Party’s tax grab.”
The mortgage guarantee scheme was first introduced by the Conservatives in 2021, after mortgage offers with a 5% deposit largely disappeared following the pandemic.
By offering to act as a guarantor for buyers and cover some of the costs if a home is repossessed, the scheme encourages lenders to offer deals for smaller deposits and helps those who can afford the monthly mortgage payment but struggle to save large sums while renting for their first home.
However, the regime is only temporary and is expected to end in 2025.
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Labour’s pledge is to make the scheme a permanent offering, claiming it would help more than 80,000 young people to “move out of their parents’ house” and buy their own home during the next parliament.
Among the planning changes, the party promises to tax foreign buyers who “crowd out young people” from the property market in order to pay for new planners, which it says will help boost projects being approved.
Will bring back home building goals – ruled out by conservatives in 2022 — as well as accelerated permits to build on brownfield land and reform mandatory purchase orders to “stop speculators from thwarting home construction.”
They will also promise to offer “first dibs” on new developments to local people looking for a home and will reiterate their commitment to creating “the next generation” of new cities.
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Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, who led the party’s housing policy, said: “The Conservatives have destroyed house building, putting the dream of a safe and affordable home even further out of reach. country’s needs.
“Labour’s new Freedom to Buy scheme will be beneficial to workers across the country. We will take more action on housing in the first year of a Labor government than this crumbling Conservative government has achieved in more than a decade.”
Sir Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner of the Labor Party will make their housing announcement on Friday. Photo: PA
The political announcements were welcomed by a number of industry experts, including Berkeley Homes and Barratt Developments.
And the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the party’s plan had “the potential to reduce one of the barriers to home ownership” by helping those with smaller deposits.
But one of its senior economists, David Sturrock, said getting a deposit was “just a hurdle”, adding: “Potential buyers also need to have a high enough income to take out a (larger) mortgage and pay the repayments.
“As a result, potential buyers in their 30s and from more affluent backgrounds and looking to buy outside of London and the South East are more likely to take advantage of this scheme.”
Meanwhile, the Conservatives are announcing a new plan to increase the threshold at which parents start paying tax on high-income family benefits.
Instead of having to be paid when one parent earns more than £60,000 a year, it will now only be paid when the family income is more than £120,000.
The Liberal Democrats will also focus on fathers, promising to “transform” parental leave by doubling statutory maternity pay and offering a “dad’s month” of paid leave for new fathers.
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
