Anyone else in the South East worried about Andy Burnham bringing in a land tax?

[Beachbooks]

With it looking likely that Andy Burnhan will be the next PM, I was interested to see if anyone else in London / the south east were worried about potential tax raises specifically around the land tax rather than stamp duty ?

A lot of my friends who live locally are worrying that he will make the land tax for the South East so high in proportion to other areas of the UK that it will be financially very difficult to afford but then also extremely difficult to sell!!

BTW we have very standard house and garden but we live in an expensive area

Labour. Socialism doesn't work economically and, as we can see eventually, fewer people do, literally. AB's legacy will likely be that he presided over the killing off of the welfare state.

Lets hope so.

Us Scousers will be shouting “calm down, calm down”, while we kick the shit out of each other! Even the women will have have moustaches and tans!

I don't want the welfare state to be killed off. I want it to be efficient.

It won't be under AB. What he has done with Manchester is 5 out of 10 at best. He has delivered more housing, but I suspect he's also f*ked Manchester over in the process. Not he is off to f*k the rest of the country over.

We lived in a fairly inexpensive part of Yorkshire, and also knew families who lost their very modest homes due to very high mortgage interest rates. IIRC the rate during the 1980s was never less than 8%, peaking at 14/15%. We bought a house in the 1980s from a family whose small business had gone bust, and then we hung on. If one of us had lost our job, we’d have lost the house too.

We had no family money behind us, DH grew up in a council house, and my dad died when I was in my teens. Like many more we lived frugally, we ran an old van which DH needed for work, and holidays were visits to relatives or day trips run by works social clubs. Not every home owning family was affluent.

Now, long time retired, not great pensions, our home is our only asset. We’d sell up if we could find a suitable rented retirement flat, in the area where we live. The private ones for sale are more expensive than our house! By renting, we’d have the capital to be self funding, but as homeowners we are excluded from most sheltered type housing because they are very often let via local authorities. There are under 60s living in supported flats and bungalows designed for older people, and over 80s struggling with stairs and gardens, and bed blocking in hospitals due to unsuitable homes.

Manchester doesn’t agree with you.

That's one of the biggest issues. We've had a housing shortage for decades. There simply aren't enough homes of the right type, at the right price, in the right location. For many people like you, wanting to downsize isn't the problem. The problem is that practical alternatives just don't exist.

Many people, it seems, don't care about the ordinary people who will effectively be punished by this.

Well, I know that's a lie. I have family in and around Manchester, and I studied there. Thanks anyway.

The majority with which Burnham won three mayoral elections are rather more significant than what you and your family think. He got 63% of the vote last time. 🤷‍♀️

Well my cousins didn't vote for him. In fact they voted against having a Mayor.

Clean air
Homelessness
medium / Long term revenue
Capital appreciation
Transparency / corporate governance

Credit where it's due, c.11,000 homes have built so far. But how much medium and long term value was created for Manchester.

I've talked about revenue streams before. I'm certainly not an expert, but given Mariana Mazzucato's work on value creation and public investment, I'd be interested to hear what she would make of how these deals were structured and whether they captured a fair share of the long-term economic value that the public sector loans helped create.

Your statement that AB has screwed over Manchester is meaningless without evidence.

I visit Manchester frequently, and it is thriving. The biggest problem is that it started from a very low base after decades of decay. Of course there is more to do.

Andy Burnham and the City Council together have done a great job there. By some measures, growth outstrips London and is the strongest in the UK. Details can be found in loads of places online, including

‘Can Andy Burnham Take Credit for Manchester’s Success?’ ,
The Spectator, 20 May 2026

You know, that left wing periodical, The Spectator.

Has Manchester grown under Andy Burnham? Yes

Value Creation: Did taxpayers receive the best possible long-term value from the policies and deals that contributed to that growth? Debatable = 5/10

I don't read The Spectator, and it certainly wouldn't be my benchmark for assessing medium and long term value creation.

YMMV

Agree
A pp also noted the new properties built are out of the financial range of most of the locals.
It was in early post on This or the other similar thread running

I said your statement assessing Manchester’s growth required evidence. It still does.

Though how will it address the current unfairness of council tax? I looked recently at the council tax for two properties within our local council.
.in the city a 500k one bed property in walking distance of all amenities and excellent public transport links is in band c con ersley a one bed flat in a poor part of the council are costing 150k with poor public transport and one shop no library as the closest one is a 2 mile walk is band a the difference between these two bands however is just £70 per year as out in the poorer area we have to pay an additional amount for a local town council.

In what way has AB fucked over Manchester?

He hasn’t. Hence winning three mayoral elections with majorities other politicians would kill for.

The Adlington (near Manchester) new town that has now been shelved, was expected to deliver "affordable" homes costing around £400,000..

Labour can't compel housebuilders to build decent quality homes let alone truely affordable homes but somehow homeowners are exercising poor judgement and inefficiency by prioritising stability.

Not to you. A leopard never changes it spots..

It's just pushing a different type of unfairness.

I reference why up thread.

For context, this was in response to my request for evidence for this person’s claim that AB has earned ‘5/10’ in Manchester.

As she seems a bit to the right politically, I had sourced a Spectator article from last month crediting the City Council and him with really turning the city around (from a very low base, so work remains - besides, no one claims perfection), and asking why she chose her rating. But I am not to get a reply.

Edit: The article is from May.

Well leopards don’t change their spots. 😉

More lies, overstatements and inaccuracies.

Actually, I'm politically homeless. We've just increased the choice from two shades of shit to four.

Cults aren't my thing. It would take far more than blind faith for me to pledge my allegiance to any political party.