Labour today (Tuesday) use their opposition day debate to force a
vote on the mortgage crisis - urging MPs from across the house to
get behind their package of mandatory measures to help ease the
Tory mortgage bombshell hitting families.
It follows interest rates rising for the 13th time last week,
increasing the painful squeeze on family finances.
Last Thursday, Labour set out their plan to ease the Tory
mortgage crisis, with a set of mandatory measures.
These would be made compulsory by instructing the regulator to
require all lenders to bring in measures such as allowing
borrowers to switch to interest only mortgage payments for a
temporary period or to lengthen the term of their mortgage
period.
By failing to make its own measures mandatory, the government are
allowing around 2 million households to miss out on the mortgage
support they need.
It comes as figures reveal the average mortgage costs will be
going up by a crippling £2,900 per year, and follows the release
of new figures yesterday show new mortgages will now cost a
typical household in Britain over £2,000 more per year than in
France and over £1,000 more than in Ireland and Belgium.
Speaking ahead of the Opposition Day Debate, Labour’s
Shadow Chancellor said:
“Across Britain, people are being hit hard by a Tory mortgage
bombshell.
“The Prime Minister may want to just keep putting his fingers in
his ears, but the reality is millions of families are feeling the
pain from this Tory economic failure.
“Not only has their economic recklessness driven this crisis, but
this Tory government's failure to make its measures mandatory
leaves around 2 million households missing out on the mortgage
support they need.
“I’m urging all Tory MPs to take some responsibility, and vote
today (Tuesday) for Labour's mandatory plan to ease the Tory
mortgage penalty now and give households the reassurance they
need.”
Ends
Notes
Labour’s draft motion is as follows:
That this House is extremely concerned that, under this
Conservative Government, average mortgage costs will be
increasing by £2,900 per year, with a typical household in
Britain paying over £2,000 more per year than in France and over
£1,000 more than in Ireland and Belgium, and that
renters face huge increases in rent payments; condemns the
Government for its slowness in acting to support
millions of homeowners and renters and so alleviate the impact of
the Tory mortgage penalty; calls on the Government to bring
in mandatory measures as the current voluntary measures could
lead to around 2 million homeowners missing out on support and to
immediately adopt measures to ease the mortgage crisis and
halt repossessions by guaranteeing struggling mortgage borrowers
can access support from their lenders and the rights of
renters are strengthened; in particular calls on the Government
to require lenders to allow borrowers to switch to interest only
mortgage payments for a temporary period, lengthen the term of
their mortgage period, reverse any support measures when
requested and make mandatory repossession restrictions; and
further calls on the Chancellor to instruct the Financial Conduct
Authority to urgently issue guidance stating that the credit
score of borrowers should be unaffected by any temporary switches
to interest only mortgage payments or lengthening of their
mortgage period and to introduce a renters charter that would end
no fault evictions immediately.
Last week, the party released new local figures that show how the
Tory mortgage penalty is harming households across the country,
highlighting how:
· In Selby
and Ainsty 12,300 households will be
paying an average £2,700 more on their mortgages.
· In Uxbridge and South
Ruislip 10,100 households will be paying on average £5,200 more
on their mortgages.
The constituency breakdown of this data is attached.
