On the day of the campaign rally to galvanise support for a bid to win a judicial review of George Osborne’s buy to let tax changes, an industry body says an increasing number of Tory MPs are beginning to revolt against the government.
The Residential Landlords’ Association – which has itself met with Treasury minister Lord O’Neill, chair of the backbench 1922 committee Graham Brady and others – says a growing number of backbench Tories are speaking out.
They, and much of the industry, are angry at Osborne’s restriction of mortgage interest tax relief to the basic rate, even for higher rate-paying landlords.Former Welsh Secretary David Jones has written in protest at the change on the Conservative Home website while Mark Field MP has written in similar vein in the business newspaper City AM. Conservative peer Lord Flight – one of the speakers at today’s rally – has written in the Daily Telegraph that Osborne’s proposal, and others from the government attacking buy to let, could worsen Britain’s housing crisis.
Today’s rally is part of a campaign by landlords Steve Bolton and Chris Cooper to secure a review of section 24 of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2015 which includes the proposed restriction of mortgage interest tax relief, which was first announced by Osborne almost a year ago, in July 2015.
