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Post updated: August 1st, 2026
KEY INFORMATION
Andy Burnham has previously backed reforming council tax and replacing stamp duty with a different property tax model. However, since becoming Prime Minister, he has ruled out scrapping the two taxes and replacing them with a single annual property tax.
Responding to reports that the Government was considering such a change, Burnham said: “That won’t be happening.” He added that it was “just not the case that we are bringing forward plans on that scale at this moment in time”.
Stamp duty will therefore not be reformed in this year’s Budget. However, Burnham has continued to argue that the property tax system is unfair, particularly because council tax bills are still based on property valuations from 1991.
He has also pledged the biggest council house building programme since the Second World War and has called for tougher standards in the private rented sector. We are waiting to hear more details.
As Prime Minister, Andy Burnham has pledged to tackle the cost of living crisis. As part of this he has announced that electricity bills for households in Great Britain will not attract VAT for 6 months from 1 October 2026.
In his first major interview as Prime Minister, with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, Burnham highlighted the regional inequalities created by the current council tax system.
He said: “There are people here in Greater Manchester who pay a much higher council tax than people living in much larger homes in London.”
Burnham said previous moves to reform council tax and increase the contribution made by owners of higher-value homes were “right and fair”. He pointed to the failure to revalue council tax bands, which remain based on 1991 property values.
However, he stopped short of announcing a particular replacement for council tax. He also stressed that any future changes would need to honour the manifesto on which Labour was elected.
Previously, at his by-election campaign launch, Andy Burnham said he wanted a “reform of council tax” calling the current system “highly regressive” and its 1991-based valuations “not justifiable”.
The options that have been discussed in government and Labour circles include:
Burnham has not formally endorsed any of these options as government policy. Reports that he was actively considering replacing both council tax and stamp duty with a single annual tax have been rejected.
The Fairer Share campaign has proposed replacing council tax and stamp duty with an annual property tax equivalent to 0.48% of a home’s value. It estimates that the change would reduce bills for 19 million low and middle-income households.
However, Burnham has ruled out adopting this proposal at present. He said reports that the Government was bringing forward plans on this scale were incorrect.
The proposal remains useful as an illustration of one possible model of property tax reform, rather than a confirmed or actively developing government policy.
One of the arguments against this made by critics is that the current council tax system has bands setting the least and most someone may pay, while this new system would have no upper limit.
Under Fairer Share’s proposal, this new tax would also lead to the abolition of the “Bedroom Tax”.
Many second homeowners and owners of empty properties already pay a higher rate of council tax. Under these proposals, an annual property tax equivalent to 0.96% of a home’s value would apply. This would also apply to homes owned by overseas buyers.
No not at this stage. Andy Burnham has ruled out scrapping stamp duty or replacing it with a new annual property tax at this stage, and stamp duty will not be reformed in this year’s Budget.
This means buyers and movers should continue to plan on the basis of the existing stamp duty rules.
Burnham has previously explored stamp duty reform and has written in The Guardian in favour of replacing stamp duty on property sales with a land value tax. A land value tax would typically be charged annually according to the value of the land on which a property stands, rather than being charged when the property is bought.
He has also said in the past that land is “under-taxed”. However, no detailed government proposal for a land value tax has been published.
While ruling out an immediate overhaul, Burnham said his Government still wanted “to make taxation fairer”. This suggests that more limited changes to council tax, higher-value property taxation or property valuations may still be considered in future, but there is currently no confirmed policy or timetable.
For homeowners, buyers and movers, the immediate position is clearer: neither council tax nor stamp duty is being abolished, and there will be no stamp duty reform in this year’s Budget.
The longer-term position remains uncertain. Burnham has identified unfairness in the current council tax system and has previously supported land taxation, but he has not committed the Government to a particular alternative. Any future changes would also need to be consistent with Labour’s election manifesto.
We’ll be watching and update this page as new policies are announced. Sign up to our free newsletter and we’ll explain what the latest housing policy announcements could mean for homeowners, buyers and movers.
An estimated 150,000 more households could have to pay the ‘mansion tax’ with Andy Burnham as prime minister, according to reports.
The mansion tax, officially called the High Value Council Tax Surcharge, will apply to homeowners with properties valued at more than £2 million in 2026, and be collected alongside council tax from April 2028.
It has been suggested – and not ruled out – that the PM could potentially lower the threshold at which people start to pay it from £2 million to £1.5 million. Read more in our guide UK property tax changes 2026: How the “Mansion Tax” will work.
Andy Burnham’s potential policies may still include changes to capital gains tax, which is usually payable when selling assets including buy to let properties or second homes. The tax is payable on any gain in its value above your CGT allowance (after any deductions have been taken off).
Speaking at his Makerfield campaign launch in June, Andy Burnham said that he wants to look “in detail” at aligning the rates with income tax. That would mean bringing the 18% and 24% rates currently paid on gains into line with income tax bands of 20%, 40% or 45%.
However, critics have argued that while it would be an easy change to implement, it would prove controversial and could lead to a drop in revenue if people hold on to their assets in the hope of a change of government.
There is also speculation that we could see changes to inheritance tax, under an Andy Burnham premiership.
Under the current system, a couple can leave an estate worth up to £1 million before any inheritance tax is due, although the amount you can pass on depends on the size of your estate, whether it includes your house and who you leave it to. Find more details in our guide Inheritance tax on property.
However, in 2023, Andy Burnham floated the idea of replacing inheritance tax with a “care levy” to fund a National Care Service, while in June he told The Guardian that he “wouldn’t flinch” from looking at “inheritance tax and care charges” if he became prime minister.
Mortgage rates are not set by politicians, but political and economic uncertainty can influence financial markets, which in turn affects borrowing costs.
Analysts say investors will look closely at any future fiscal plans, particularly if they involve significant borrowing or major tax reform.
Large policy shifts can create uncertainty, which may feed through to mortgage markets. This could influence mortgage rates but it’s too early to predict whether mortgage rates would rise or fall.
Our Mortgage Expert Sarah Tucker said:
“With changes to stamp duty and council tax being put on the back burner for the rest of our new PMs reign, homeowners can now make decisions about their next steps with more certainty around their finances and the costs involved.
Mortgage rates remain sensitive to the wider economic and global developments, and have begun rising again because financial-market uncertainty is increasing lenders’ funding costs.
” So buyers and homeowners approaching the end of a fixed-rate mortgage should not assume that waiting will necessarily result in a cheaper deal.
“It is sensible to review your options early and consider securing a rate. In many cases, a mortgage offer can then be kept under review, giving borrowers the opportunity to move to a better deal if rates fall before completion.”
If you’re remortgaging soon, don’t wait to review your options. You can lock in a rate, then keep it under review in case rates fall before you need to switch. Get fee-free mortgage advice from the award-winning expert advisers at Mortgage Advice Bureau.
Get fee-free mortgage advice from the award-winning expert advisers at Mortgage Advice Bureau.
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Burnham’s announcement that he will not change stamp duty and council tax at this stage is welcome and removes one immediate source of uncertainty for homeowners, buyers and sellers. Uncertainty often puts the brakes on the housing market as everyone waits and sees what’s to come and whether it’s a good idea to move. However, in our view, not scrapping stamp duty is a missed opportunity.
Speculation about longer-term council tax reform may continue until the Government sets out whether it intends to revalue properties, introduce additional bands or make more limited changes affecting higher-value homes.
One of the most high-profile of Andy Burnham’s potential policies is that he wants “the biggest programme of council house building since the Second World War”.
In a speech on 29 June, he said that housing should be at the centre of Government policy, and that “everything starts with a good home. “This country finally has to put that at the top of its priority list,” he said.
In terms of how Andy Burnham’s potential policy on council housing would be paid for, he suggested this could be funded by diverting the existing £39bn affordable housing programme entirely to social rent homes.
If this does happen, it could have significant implications for affordable housing schemes such as shared ownership. Again, we await any further details of how this could be implemented.
Andy Burnham has also pledged to bring “higher density residential development to our towns”, helping to increase footfall on high streets while protecting more green space from development.
As mayor of Manchester, which is now the fastest-growing major urban economy in the UK, Andy Burnham secured a devolution deal under the Conservatives in 2023 and pledged to use devolved funding to build 10,000 homes across Greater Manchester and later to buy up empty homes and use them to get families experiencing homelessness out of temporary accommodation, reports the i Paper.
Also, on his watch, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority controversially agreed to give a private developer a £50m loan from the Good Growth Fund to aid the completion of a luxury skyscraper, which includes 133 homes for social rent.
In terms of housebuilding under his leadership, between 2024 and 2025, 3,864 new homes were built in Manchester, an increase of 28% from the previous year.
As of 2025, there were around 12,000 homes under construction and another 7,500 with planning permission. Also, in 2024-25, 99.8% of homes completed were on brownfield land, and over 80% were close to public transport.
Andy Burnham announced that VAT will be removed from domestic electricity bills for 6 months from 1 October 2026. The temporary cut applies to electricity rather than gas and is expected to reduce electricity charges by around 4.8%, saving a typical household approximately £45 over a year if prices and usage remain unchanged. The government says longer-term support for energy bills will be considered at the Autumn Budget.
In his first speech in Downing Street on 20 July, Andy Burnham announced he would “end rough sleeping in our country”. The speech was followed by a No 10 press release promising an extra £340 million for the task over the next five years.
During a visit to a homeless shelter in London that morning, Andy Burnham told Sky News that “some of the issues were out of our control”.
He said: “You won’t be able to get the numbers down if you’re the only place, and other cities, people are coming to Manchester. So it taught me that the only way is to do this together. Everybody pulling in the same direction.”
The think tank IPPR North has warned that 50,000 people are at risk of becoming homeless in the next four years without radical action, reports The Times. It has called on the prime minister to expand his A Bed Every Night programme nationwide.
Homeowners and buyers trying to make plans can rest a little easier knowing there will not be potential changes to stamp duty or council tax for the time being. The PM has ruled out replacing them with a single property tax at present, and stamp duty will not be reformed in this year’s Budget.
However, homeowners should continue to watch for more limited reforms, particularly changes to council tax valuations, bands or taxes applying to higher-value properties in the form of the mansion tax.
Paula Higgins, CEO of HomeOwners Alliance, said:
“We know from our Scrap Stamp Duty Campaign that in its current format, stamp duty puts off families from moving up the property ladder, fleeces homeowners needing to make a sideways move and makes it more expensive for older generations to downsize. So we are disappointed the new PM won’t scrap the tax.
“We’re keen now to see what changes will come with this new Prime Minister to help aspiring first time buyers, home movers and older homeowners achieve their housing needs.
Social housing, privately rented and privately owned homes all play their part in a healthy housing market. And a healthy housing market is good for the economy.”
“We’d love to see homeownership for first-time buyers treated as an equally important target alongside an increase in social housing.
“Our research found that for many young people today, homeownership has become an impossible dream. 1.9 million aspiring homeowners do not think they will follow in the footsteps of their home owning parents.
No. Council tax has not changed. Andy Burnham has said he supports reforming council tax, but has ruled out major changes this year. No Government proposals or legislation have been announced.
No. Stamp duty has not changed. Andy Burnham has previously supported reforming property taxes, but has now rules this out for the time being. There are currently no confirmed plans or legislation to abolish stamp duty.
Andy Burnham has called for council tax reform and is reported to support replacing council tax and stamp duty with a new annual property tax. However, he ahs said he will not make any changes for the time being. No official Government proposal or detailed policy has been published.
It’s impossible to say. No detailed proposals have been published, so it’s not known how much homeowners would pay or who would be better or worse off under any future property tax system.
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