Goldsworthy welcomes 11th hour climbdown on tax breaks for second homes

12.00.00am GMT Fri 16th Dec 2005

Local Lib Dem MP Julia Goldsworthy has welcomed the Chancellor's announcement that, following two years of campaigning by Lib Dem MPs, second homes will be excluded from Self-Invested Personal Pensions.

It was feared that giving second home-owners tax breaks related to their pension could only increase the numbers of second home owners in rural counties like Cornwall, making it harder for young people to get onto the property ladder and further widening the gap between inflated house prices and low wages.

Julia commented:

"The Chancellor has left it to the last minute, but at last he has seen sense by preventing second homes being purchased with Self-Invested Personal Pensions.

"Liberal Democrat MPs have been campaigning against these proposals for two years and the Treasury has now recognised that we were right that these plans threatened rural communities.

"The idea that the government should give tax breaks for second home ownership always was absurd. Rural communities across the country, and especially in Cornwall, had been bracing themselves for even higher house prices following the new rules."