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Badenoch’s inheritance tax gambit makes no economic sense | Heather Stewart
UK NewsPoliticsBusiness•October 7, 2026 at 6:16 PMNational

Badenoch’s inheritance tax gambit makes no economic sense | Heather Stewart

By Heather Stewart Economics editor•The Guardian - UK News

The Tory leader’s proposal to slash the tax would shovel £6bn of taxpayer money to the already-wealthyKemi Badenoch’s inheritance tax gambit is a Conservative classic. After all, it was George Osborne’s high-profile pledge to “take the family home out of inheritance tax” in 2007 that put Gordon Brown off calling a snap general election.In practice, Osborne’s plan involved a £1m threshold for inheritance tax – and given the global financial crisis had blown a hole in the public finances by the time the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition came to power in 2010, it never came to pass. Continue reading...

The Tory leader’s proposal to slash the tax would shovel £6bn of taxpayer money to the already-wealthy

Kemi Badenoch’s inheritance tax gambit is a Conservative classic. After all, it was George Osborne’s high-profile pledge to “take the family home out of inheritance tax” in 2007 that put Gordon Brown off calling a snap general election.

In practice, Osborne’s plan involved a £1m threshold for inheritance tax – and given the global financial crisis had blown a hole in the public finances by the time the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition came to power in 2010, it never came to pass.

Continue reading...