11.08.08 by Andrew Montlake

Come In No. 10, Your Time Is Up !

I would have thought that by now our beleaguered government would have known that before speaking it is best to engage brain! The idea of changing, either permanently or even partially, the antiquated laws of Stamp Duty, is of course a good one. Telling everyone they may offer a Stamp Duty holiday is not.

Whoever is advising our trusted leaders, if anyone, needs to understand that what people most like is decisiveness. If a decision is wrong, then learn from it and move on. At least some people will agree and those that don’t will at least accept a decision has been made.

Do nothing, hesitate for ages, say you may do something, then do something else, and you alienate everyone.

It is no surprise to anyone that all this talk has already made people on the verge of buying put their plans on hold. If things were not hard enough for the property market as it was, speculation like this was always going to stop things even further. How could the Government not know this would happen?

Whilst Stamp Duty should be revamped, not least scrapped for First-Time Buyers, it will not transform the whole market overnight, and is not the panacea to all the housing markets ills.

It is however, a good starting point, and would make a difference to many people, which, together with an easing of mortgage rates, could well start to tip the balance.

This needs a quick resolution, today or at the very least this week and no longer. It’s a simple we will from this date or we won’t. End the speculation without prolonging the torture, then move on.

In fact it may well be time to move on to more decisive leadership, with David Miliband waiting vibrantly in the wings, fresh-faced and eager.

As someone who voted for “this mob”, as one of my colleagues put it, I find it difficult to say, but it does seem to be a case of “Come in No. 10, your time is up”.

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