The prime minister has categorically ruled out changes to stamp duty in the autumn budget.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Andy Burnham was asked if the government could reform or scrap stamp ​duty in the next budget.

He said: “​I can say that quite clearly. That won’t ⁠be happening.”

Elaborating further, he added: “It’s just ​not the case that we are bringing forward plans ​on that scale at this moment in time…What we’re trying to ‌do ⁠though is to make taxation fairer.”

While the news may disappoint those in the industry who have called for reforms, the fact Burnham has made his position clear on the matter, at least in the short-term, is likely to be welcomed.

Speaking before Burnham made the comments, Martyn Gerrard Estate Agents chairman Simon Gerrard said: “The abolition of stamp duty would be a brilliant thing.

“The tax prevents people from moving house, stops the property market functioning properly and leads to family homes sitting empty instead of being freed up for aspirational parents to have room for their own children.

“It has a chilling effect on transactions and the knock-on repercussions for the wider economy are significant.”

But Gerrard said that buyers urgently needed clarity in order to have the confidence to proceed.

He said: “All this talk about it being potentially abolished is wreaking havoc on the property market.

“We’re even seeing agreed sales being paused and deals falling apart because no one wants to pay a large stamp duty bill right before it’s potentially abolished.

“All this noise is not boosting the economy and property market, it’s destroying it.

“A clear signal needs to be urgently sent as to what will happen to those people paying stamp duty now.”