In the first Covid-19 lockdown, Selaine Saxby noticed how empty her village had become. “I live on a close of 30 homes of which only five were occupied,” said Saxby, the Conservative MP for North Devon. Second homes were left vacant and holiday homes unlet as the pandemic spread, illustrating how much of the nation’s picturesque towns and villages were owned by people who lived somewhere else. Later, remote working by City dwellers keen to grab a slice of countryside and a boom in staycations meant many Devon towns became swamped. Ilfracombe on Devon’s north coast has seen a 52% increase in house prices since 2021, largely as a result of second home buyers, says Saxby. Over the same period there has been a 67% drop in long-term rentals to locals. Second homes are in the government’s sights after Jeremy Hunt reacted to complaints from the likes of Saxby in his spring budget. The chancellor said he wanted to encourage second-home owners to offload their properties when he announced higher taxes on holiday lets and lower …