Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Kerry McCarthy

Tuesday 7th May 2024 Commons Chamber

[Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)]

T3.   According to the Bank of England, a typical family remortgaging this year will pay £240 a year more in mortgage payments. Does the Chancellor accept that even if the Bank cuts rates, those homeowners will still be paying a penalty because the Government crashed the economy?

[Jeremy Hunt]

What I would say to those families is that the most damaging thing of all is to have inflation at 11%. Now we have reduced it to 3.2%, and indeed we expect it to go lower. Interest rates are also starting to fall. If the hon. Member is worried about families in her constituency, she might be extremely worried by the shadow Chancellor saying that if interest rates fall, it is somehow not a big deal. It really is.