TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp has backed a campaign to scrap stamp duty for first-time buyers.
The property expert came to Westminster with Shadow Housing Minister Grant Shapps to highlight growing problems in the property market.
She said: "People aren't able to continue with their lives, their family lives, what really matters to them be
cause they aren't able to buy and sell houses."
The Conservatives are calling on the Government to scrap stamp duty for all first-time buyers on properties below £250,000.
Ms Allsopp added: "The fact that people aren't moving house means that they are not buying things that they need for their house.
"It's not simply something that can be put aside...It's at the very centre of the economy."
She accused the Government of having "milked" the housing market with charges for Home Information Packs and "ever-increasing taxes".
The presenter said the housing market has slowed so much that the majority of properties she views while filming for Channel 4 are on sale because the owner has died.
Mr Shapps said: "We have to say, 'first time buyers need special help', and that special help is that we scrap stamp duty entirely."
He added: "I worry that what Gordon Brown will do is implement something incredibly complicated which is over-engineered and fails to help the people we really want to help."
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