And I never said that stamp duty relief was necessarily *the* answer to these problems. My broader point is that it's worth having a conversation about how to encourage downsizing and more efficient use of existing housing stock (as well as building more affordable housing etc)

That's a fair comment, although I'd say that the emotions around money are pretty important. People downsizing often face a huge amount of uncertainty about the future, e.g. how long they might live, costs of care, etc. £2k is a lot of money for most people, even if they are releasing equity.

I don't disagree. My view was just that it might improve supply of family-sized housing, benefitting younger generations - in a way that might just about be politically feasible/pragmatic. Plus a lot of debate about housing turns to immigration, so I wondered if this might change the focus a little?

Is there anything we can do to incentivise down-sizing, given huge number of (mainly older) owner-occupiers with 2+ spare bedrooms? e.g. some form of stamp duty relief. Could free-up a lot of housing capacity? I would call it 'move out to help out'!!

Useful thread thanks. Was there a practical reason (beyond politics) they needed to set the claw back at £35k? E.g. Why not £25k? It's also a shame they can't take housing costs into account, given massive difference between a renting pensioner and an outright owner.

How we talk about our social security system matters. Words shape attitudes and attitudes shape policy. We can too easily inadvertently fuel misconceptions and shame.

We're asking all MPs and journos to use @turn2us.org.uk's new 'talking about social security' guides, for a better conversation.

I think the phrasing of the survey question includes winning votes AND achieving real-world impact. More people would've said Farage and Davey doing a good job because they heard their parties had done well, not because they've actually made a difference to people's lives.

Is it not incorrect to label this an approval rating? Surely it's possible for someone to think that a politician is doing a 'good job' (at winning votes) without actually approving of them in any way, shape or form!

Their fundamental strategic error from which so much else flows was their 2024 tax pledge. They've trapped themselves for no good reason.

Bristol is the only big English city outside London to be more productive than the national average. It is one of the UK’s few clearly economically successful places - but it is still roughly the same size as it was decades ago.

We need to make it bigger!