High Cost Credit Bill

Debate between Paul Blomfield and Penny Mordaunt

Friday 12th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Paul Blomfield]

That is an important point. It is one I have looked at in relation to the United States, where unregulated markets have been regulated. Where such regulation is introduced in the measured way that the Bill seeks, there is no evidence that people turn to the sort of illegal loan sharks about whom we should be very concerned.

[Penny Mordaunt (Portsmouth North) (Con)]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on introducing the Bill and other Members who have worked on the issue, including my hon. Friend the Member for East Hampshire (Damian Hinds). Does the hon. Gentleman agree that often people are in such dire straits from taking out payday loans at massive credit rates that they turn to loan sharks and other disreputable creditors in order to pay back the first loan?

[Paul Blomfield]

The hon. Lady makes an important point and she is absolutely right.

Let me conclude by giving an example from Sheffield of a single parent, not currently working but supporting three young children. She used various payday loans from different companies to pay household bills and found herself trapped in a spiral of debt. The Money Shop, for example, gave her three roll-overs at £30 a time. It used a CPA to withdraw money needed for essential household bills from her account and she subsequently fell behind with her rent. When she approached the companies, they were very unsympathetic. The Cheque Centre was at one point calling her five to seven times a day. She feels, as many Members of this House do, that payday loan companies prey on the most vulnerable, offering credit to those who have no realistic prospect of paying the money back. This House has a responsibility to ensure that that does not happen. That is why I commend the Bill to the House.

Electoral Registration and Administration Bill

Debate between Paul Blomfield and Penny Mordaunt

Tuesday 29th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Paul Blomfield]

Indeed; the plan was pretty transparent, and it seems to be falling apart under the scrutiny of another place and with the support of other parties across the House. I am delighted about that because accepting Lords amendments 5 and 23 will provide the pause that we need to ensure that our democracy is not weakened. That would give us the time to get this right, and I look forward to the House supporting those amendments.

[Penny Mordaunt (Portsmouth North) (Con)]

I hope I can cheer up my hon. Friend the Member for Hereford and South Herefordshire (Jesse Norman) and the whole House by quoting Edmund Burke, who told the electors of Bristol:

“Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment”.

We cannot be on autopilot in the House; we must do what we think is right, in the interests of our constituents and the country, which is why I did not join my Government in voting against the measures on payday loans proposed by the hon. Member for Walthamstow (Stella Creasy), or Labour’s proposed extension to the national insurance contribution holiday to the south-east, and it is why I voted against my Government over the constitutional car crash that was the House of Lords Reform Bill.