Speaking in a debate on the Stamp Duty Land Tax Bill, Anne Main welcomed the changes to stamp duty and asked if the reforms will be extended to commercial properties.

Mrs Anne Main (St Albans) (Con): I stress again how welcome the change has been for residents in St Albans, particularly at the lower end of the market where there have been big savings. Has consideration been given to expanding the scheme to commercial properties, and not just keeping it to wholly or partly residential properties?

Mr Gauke: All these matters are kept under review. My hon. Friend has been a consistent and doughty campaigner for reform in this area. If we had exactly the same system in place for commercial property, with the same thresholds and so on, we would be imposing a much greater burden on commercial property transactions, because by their nature they tend to be of a more substantial size. There is a higher level of consideration in place than for most residential property transactions. The argument for reform for residential property was particularly strong, which is why we took these steps.

Consideration of whether there is a strong and persuasive case for reform for commercial property is perhaps a matter for another day.

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Mrs Main: Does my right hon. Friend share the optimism that I feel, having talked to small businesses in my community, that there could be a knock-on effect from people having a bit more money to carry out home improvements? Those businesses have suffered in recent years because people have not been investing in their own homes.

Mr Redwood: Yes, indeed there could.

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