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It is well reported that the Conservative Party is vehemently opposed to home information packs. The other central tenet of its housing policy is to abolish stamp duty on house purchases below £250,000, eminently sensible to help ease the financial burdens on the first-time buyers we desperately need to truly kick-start the property market.

For these reasons, the Tories are attracting a considerable amount of support from the mortgage industry.

In the interests of balance however and given the turmoil in the hallowed halls of Westminster currently, I thought it only fair to take a fresh look at Labour’s commitments in this area. I consulted the Party's website to bring myself up to date. There was no mention of housing in their list of 'policies at a glance'. Furthermore, with MP Margaret Beckett off to tend her hanging baskets, I could find no reference on the site to her replacement as housing minister.

I thought I would go straight to the horse's mouth and call the Labour Party itself. Having selected the option 'no I certainly do not want to join, I would just like some information'. I was put on hold.

Because I have a day job to do, I did not pursue my investigations any further. But it struck me that in fact, I had stumbled across an ironic scenario. We need a leadership which is committed to helping the housing market recover, not one which is more preoccupied with dealing with the fall out from MPs second-home expenses. The sooner we have a general election, the better, and then we can all come off hold and start turning green shoots into a proper recovery.

Christopher Taylor

Chief Executive Officer

London & European

London