A government move to abolish stamp duty in "disadvantaged" areas will cost four times more than the official £50 million a year estimate, the Liberal Democrats have warned.

Lord Oakeshoot, the party's Treasury spokesman, told the Times that the government had failed to do its homework.

"This policy is much too broadbrush. It sprays subsidy over big property owners of retail and office properties in the hope that some of it will trickle down to poorer people in these boroughs," he said.

The Canary Wharf development in London and the Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield are highlighted as prime areas of real estate covered by the Treasury policy.