Labour accused of hypocrisy over tax plans affecting family homes

Labour has been accused by the Tories of planning a “death tax” on properties starting from the very day a person dies. The Conservatives have pointed to the Labour-run Welsh government’s plans to scrap a council tax exemption on homes in probate. They say that this – if replicated in England – would land grieving families with hundreds of pounds in new taxes. Sir Keir Starmer has previously called the Welsh Labour government the “blueprint for what Labour can do across the UK”, and Rachel Reeves has pledged a Labour government would “look at every single tax break” to raise money. In November 2023, the Welsh Labour government published a consultation paper on axing or curtailing the “class F” council tax exemption. The exemption is in place specifically because of the considerable difficulties families face in selling a property before the conclusion of probate. Currently each year 135,000 homes in England and 7,500 in Wales benefit from this exemption, saving bereaved families hundreds. Tories say Starmer is ‘denying children the same opportunities members of his shadow cabinet have benefited from’ Nearly 25 per cent of the shadow cabinet attended private schools compared with seven per cent of children whose parents pay for their education. They include Hilary Benn, Thangam Debbonaire, Louise Haigh and Anneliese Dodds, chairman of the Labour Party. Seven of the 31 members of the shadow cabinet attended private school. That compares with 20 of the 32 Tories in the Cabinet who were privately educated. The party hopes the policy will raise £1.7 billion, which it has pledged to spend on recruiting 6,500 new state school teachers, rolling out a new national programme for oracy – the ability to express oneself fluently – and ensuring that all state schools in England have access to mental health counselling.