According to claims from estate agents, it appears that the stamp duty leak is impacting on property sales as would be buyers wait and see what the Government does.

The trouble is, we’re not going to find out what Mr Darling has in store for us until the Pre-Budget Report in the autumn.

As if the housing market didn’t need any more challenges - along comes this little chestnut. Sales that were about to exchange are allegedly being delayed as buyers wait. The prospect of saving 20,000 pounds from a £500,000 property clearly is getting the better of people.

So what to do? This is not time to sticking to laurels - the cat is out of the bag. The public need to know one way or the other - and quickly.