The death tax may go

Party sources have told the Mail on Sunday that inheritance tax is likely to be abolished if Kemi Badenoch becomes Prime Minister.

Only if the sums add up

The sources attached one condition to the whole plan. Abolition happens only if the numbers work, not as an unfunded promise.

“Abolition is high on Kemi's policy wish-list, but will only happen if we can make the sums add up”

A deliberate contrast

The pitch is built against Labour's direction of travel, which has been a run of new and rising taxes since the 2024 election.

Burnham's tourist tax

Prime Minister Andy Burnham last week announced a £1.6billion tourist tax, a 5 per cent surcharge that would hit Britons holidaying at home.

Tax rises since 2024

The tourist tax is the latest in a series of increases to tax and National Insurance that Labour has brought in since winning power.

How the levy works now

Inheritance tax is charged at 40 per cent on estates above the standard tax-free threshold of £325,000.

The million pound exemption

The exempt amount can climb to £1million when a main home is passed on and a married couple transfer their allowances to each other.

A £9billion hole

Scrapping the tax is estimated to cost around £9billion, which is the number any Tory plan has to answer for.

Welfare pays for it

The money would most likely come from cutting the spiralling welfare bill rather than from other tax rises.

Birmingham in October

The announcement could land at the Tory party conference in Birmingham next month, though sources insist no platform is fixed yet.

“We have not decided our policy platform yet”

The 2007 playbook

It echoes George Osborne's 2007 conference pledge to lift the threshold from £300,000 to £1million, a promise that moved the polls hard.

Spooking an early election

That 2007 surge pushed Gordon Brown into bottling a snap election. With the Tories unprepared for a vote, aides hope the same trick deters Burnham.

She has done this before

Last year Badenoch kept her plan to axe stamp duty secret until conference, a surprise credited with shoring up her leadership.

Manufacturing momentum

Senior figures in her office want conference to build a sense of momentum after a shadow ministerial reshuffle they judge a success.

Already on her list

Badenoch has said scrapping the death tax is high on her list, and last week revealed she commissioned internal research on whether it is affordable.

“we are the party of fiscal responsibility”

Her shadow chancellor agrees

Andrew Griffith has never hidden his dislike of the levy, naming it as the one tax he would scrap given the chance.

“I was asked at my selection, what's the single tax, if you ever had a chance to scrap? And it's inheritance tax”

The Sweden example

Four days before his promotion, Griffith said Britain can learn from Sweden, which abolished its own inheritance tax.

The public is not keen

An Adam Smith Institute poll found 45 per cent of Britons oppose inheritance tax while only 25 per cent support it as it stands.

Punishing the savers

The TaxPayers' Alliance frames it as a penalty on families who built something to pass on, and scrapping it as a signal that Britain rewards aspiration.

“Inheritance tax is one of the most unfair and hated taxes on the books”

Small money, big damage

Campaigners argue it raises under 1 per cent of the tax take while forcing panic sales of family firms, farms and homes, and taxing money once already taxed.

“It raises less than 1 per cent of the total tax take. It forces panic sales of family businesses, farms and homes.”