Homebuyers in Wales will not have to pay any tax on their purchase worth up to £225,000, the Welsh Government has announced.

Finance and local government minister Rebecca Evans raised the threshold on the Welsh version of stamp duty following the UK Government’s financial statement last week.

Ms Evans made the announcement of changes to the Land Transaction Tax, which replaced stamp duty in Wales in 2018, in a statement to the Senedd.

From October 10 the threshold for the tax will rise from £180,000 but there will also be a small increase in the rate of the tax for homes that cost more than £345,000.

The minister said two thirds of homebuyers would not pay tax on their purchase.

In her statement, Ms Evans condemned the financial changes announced last week by Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng.

She told Plenary the Chancellor’s financial statement represented “one of the most consequential, divisive and regressive sets of fiscal changes ever set out by any UK Government”.

“The package was deeply unfair and morally indefensible,” she said.

“It completely failed to target urgent and meaningful support to vulnerable households impacted by the cost-of-living crisis, and left public services, currently stretched beyond any recent experience by inflation, without the critical additional funding that they need this winter.

“Through his statement, the Chancellor ignored all of this and instead prioritised tax cuts for the rich, unlimited bonuses for bankers, and protected the profits of big energy companies.

“It will have significant economic and social consequences and will cost individuals and families in Wales dearly.”

She added: “I think that it’s been well reported now that the view generally is that the Chancellor has just taken a huge gamble on the nation’s finances.

“Never gamble more than you can afford to lose. But unfortunately, the Chancellor’s gambling with more than just his own life – he’s gambling with those of everybody in this country, and people who can’t afford to lose.”

Ms Evans said the UK Government should have offered people more support through welfare benefits and housing – funded through a windfall tax on energy firms.

“Instead, the Chancellor has chosen to drastically increase public borrowing, leaving lower income households to shoulder the impact for years to come,” she said.

“The statement failed to set out a comprehensive vision for investment to boost economic growth, improve our energy security for the future and address the climate emergency.”

She told the Senedd the Welsh Government was opposed to the abolition of the 45% tax rate on annual incomes above £150,000 and had no warning of the change.

“At a time when it is those on the lower end of the pay scale that are suffering the most, this is a shocking policy to introduce,” she said.

Ms Evans described the Chancellor’s refusal to let the Office for Budget Responsibility provide an economic forecast of his financial statement was “completely irresponsible”.

“At a time where the UK is on a brink of a recession, the UK Government should have focused on opportunities to invest in people and in programmes that provide economic stability,” she said.

“Instead, the turmoil in the markets in reaction to the statement has shown that there is no confidence in the UK Government’s economic strategy.

“The movements in sterling and in the cost of Government borrowing show that markets do not believe that the current UK Government will either deliver on economic growth or put the public finances on a sustainable footing.”

The Welsh Conservatives said that although the tax cut was welcome, it did not go far enough.

Finance spokesman Peter Fox said: “Last week the UK Conservative Government took bold and decisive action to put aspiration, opportunity and growth at the heart of the economy.

“House prices in Wales have now hit £240,000, yet the Labour Government in Cardiff Bay is firmly slamming the door in the faces of first-time buyers by refusing to provide specific support for them.”

Plaid Cymru’s finance spokesman Llyr Gruffydd called for a “real fundamental overhaul of the fiscal powers that are devolved to Wales”.

“The current fiscal framework isn’t fit for purpose and it really exposes how weak Wales’s hand is when it comes to protecting the people of Wales from this kind of Tory onslaught on our most vulnerable and our poorest citizens,” he told the Senedd.

Mr Gruffydd also called for the UK Government’s cut to the basic rate of income tax to be reversed and maintained at the current level.

“Is it not the time to utilise some of the tax-varying powers that we have in Wales, not to cut or to increase taxes, in this case, but actually just to keep them at the current level?,” he asked.

“Doing so, would generate an additional £200 million for the Welsh Government to protect those essential services that people are going to be leaning more heavily than ever on before.”