Stamp Duty: Periodic Tenancies

Debate between Baroness Taylor of Stevenage and Lord John of Southwark

Monday 9th March 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I want to reassure tenants and landlords that very few tenants will be affected by this in the first year. A tenancy must have extremely high rents or have been running for a very long time under the previous system to even approach the stamp duty threshold in the first year. HMRC’s assessment is that this will be a very small number of cases. We intend to ensure that even in those rare instances, tenants do not face a stamp duty land tax charge as a result of these reforms. We will work with HMRC to make sure that clear and accessible guidance is available for both tenants and landlords.

[Lord John of Southwark (Lab)]

My Lords, one of the ways in which we meet the concerns that the noble Lord has raised is by increasing the housing supply. Can my noble friend the Minister give us an update on the social and affordable housing programme that the Government are supporting?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I am very pleased to give the House an update on the social and affordable housing programme. We have now published its prospectus, and the Government have put in £39 billion of funding to kick-start social and affordable housebuilding at scale across the country. The core objective of that new programme will be to maximise supply, with a target to deliver at least 60% of the homes under the programme at social rent. That will be around 300,000 social and affordable homes over the programme’s lifetime. We published the guidance in November 2025, and we are now calling on all registered providers to review the details confirmed and to prepare large and ambitious proposals. We want to see the social landlord sector really embrace this. The bidding process opened in February, and we look forward to receiving some good bids.

Local Government Reorganisation

Debate between Baroness Taylor of Stevenage and Lord John of Southwark

Wednesday 4th March 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord John of Southwark (Lab)]

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper. In so doing, I declare my interests as a peer mentor adviser for the Local Government Association and Thurrock Council.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

My Lords, local government reorganisation is a once-in-a-generation reform. Our vision is clear: stronger local councils equipped to drive economic growth, improve public services and empower their communities. We are working with 204 councils across 21 areas. We have already announced two new councils for Surrey, with elections expected there this May. We anticipate decisions on a further six areas later in March, following the closure of consultation on 11 January. For the remaining areas, the Government are on track and committed to the indicative timetable published last July. Decisions on which proposals to implement, if any, will be announced before the start of the Summer Recess 2026; elections to new councils will follow in May 2027, with the go-live date will be April 2028.

[Lord John of Southwark (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for her Answer. One part of the country that is not included in the current plans for local government reorganisation is London, despite it now being nearly 30 years since the current model of London governance was introduced. Given that the London model is idiosyncratic in comparison with other combined authority models, does my noble friend share my belief that a review of London’s governance is long overdue? If she does, can she tell me when the Government might undertake such a review?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

Noble Lords will be aware that the Mayor of London is directly elected by the people of London every four years, alongside the London Assembly, which scrutinises the mayor’s work. This model is unique among strategic authorities and has successfully served the people of London for the last 25 years. The Government are regularly in contact with the GLA to understand how its governance and partnership working arrangements are delivering for Londoners. As London’s devolution settlement evolves, the Government hope to continue to see positive working between the GLA and its partners, including London borough councils, to deliver on shared priorities, and we hope to build on these where possible.

Local Government Reorganisation

Debate between Baroness Taylor of Stevenage and Lord John of Southwark

Wednesday 25th February 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I have the greatest respect for Jonathan Carr-West and have worked with him on many occasions, but he has not seen the legal advice. It is a long-standing principle, as the right honourable Gentleman James Cleverly said at the other end—I could quote him if I had the quote in front of me—that the Government do not comment on or publish legal advice.

[Lord John of Southwark (Lab)]

My Lords, one of the concerns expressed to me by colleagues in local government has been about the cost of preparing submissions and scoping work for local government reorganisation. My noble friend talked about the £63 million of additional funding that will go to local government to support it going forward. Can she give reassurance to those in local government that the £63 million will meet the costs that they are going to incur? As I say, some of the concerns expressed to me have been that previous government tranches of money have not met all the costs incurred.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I can reassure my noble friend that an unprecedented amount of funding has been provided to support the capacity that local councils will need to help them as they go through this transition process. It is important that we have also been working closely with those councils. I have done much of the engagement myself, and Minister McGovern has done an awful lot of engagement with councils as well. Our officials in the department have been hugely supportive to local government as they have gone through this process, so it is right that we provide some funding to support that as well. The £63 million is to undertake that reorganisation to support the implementation, and it will include those councils that have been impacted by the changes that were made on Monday.