MP Sarah Olney says cladding crisis is more important than stamp duty holiday

The MP believes that the government should be more focused on solving the cladding crisis than on extending the stamp duty holiday.

Instead of extending the stamp duty holiday, the Treasury should spend money to tackle the cladding scandal, said Sarah Olney, an MP for Richmond Park in London.

The Liberal Democrat MP is critical of the government stamp duty holiday, which she says has already cost the Treasury £ 3.8 billion.

She said the cladding scandal is an area that needs a more urgent focus, as some renters live in unsafe and unsellable properties.

Olney said: “If the Treasury wants to continue supporting the housing market, there is a much more urgent call for public funds.”

“The government must provide more funds to help tenants caught in this nightmare. Think about the impact these unresolved cladding issues are having on the housing market.”

“There are many, many flats that cannot be sold, thousands and thousands of families that cannot move.”

“A much better way to support the housing market and unlock some of these problems is to fund the repair of flammable cladding for all buildings adequately.”

During a parliamentary debate, Olney spoke in response to an electronic petition calling for a six-month extension to the stamp duty holiday, which has garnered about 140,000 signatures.

Besides housing, she said the licensing plan and other measures designed to maintain family income should be kept for as long as they are needed.

She also spoke about the need to support retail businesses in relief for deferred payments or ongoing fee vacations.

In the meantime, she called for a renewed focus on low-income families, withholding the £ 20 increase to Universal Credit and with an increased provision of free school meals.

Olney said there is an urgent need to address the mental health crisis, which could affect everyone from frontline workers to schoolchildren who have been forced into social isolation.

Despite her distaste for the stamp duty holiday, Olney seemed interested that people whose transactions are still in process benefit from the tax cut.

She added: “I heard the argument that there are many buyers who have started a home purchase with the expectation that the stamp duty holiday will apply to their purchase and may now be facing delays, and I would urge the Treasury to do so concessions for transactions that had already started.”

“But starting a stamp duty holiday just to avoid the brink would deprive the Treasury of much-needed funds at a time when there are many extremely urgent demands on our public finances.”

While most MPs in the debate supported an extension of the doorbell holiday in some form, Abena Oppong-Asare, a Labor MP for Erith and Thameshead, was another who appeared highly critical of the policy.

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