MPs demand £20 billion for housing

A group of Labour MPs has urged Gordon Brown to spend an extra £20 billion to stimulate the economy by boosting the housing market. Progress, an independent group of Labour Party members and trade unionists, has called for a freeze on stamp duty for houses valued under £1 million for the rest of 2009, a cut in capital gains tax from 18 to 10 per cent, an increase of £10 in jobseekers allowance, and to offer a £1,000 tax credit to house buyers.