Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Love Excerpts

Tuesday 24th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I do not think that the Bank is doing that. We have taken a big step forward in this Parliament to give the Bank of England macro-prudential tools to intervene in areas such as housing if it thinks that there is a financial risk. Clearly, these things did not exist before, which is one of the reasons why the economy was in the mess that it was in when we came to office. At the Mansion House, I offered the Bank of England new direct powers to impose limits on loan-to-value and loan-to-income ratios. It is, of course, entirely up to the Financial Policy Committee, acting independently of the Government, to deploy any of its tools if it sees risks developing.

[Mr Andrew Love (Edmonton) (Lab/Co-op)]

The greatest threat to stability in the housing market is the mismatch between supply and demand. The House knows what the Chancellor has done to stoke up demand, but supply is at its lowest level since records began—fewer than 150,000 units. I heard what the Chancellor said in his initial reply. What more is he going to do to boost supply in the housing market?

[Mr Osborne]

Housing starts are now at their highest since 2007, and we have seen an increase in housing starts and planning permissions this year. I was with the hon. Gentleman in his constituency just the other day, talking about what we could do to get more housing going in his part of London on a brownfield site that he knows has been left derelict for many years. He was working very co-operatively with me then, but perhaps the Chamber of the House of Commons brings out a more adversarial encounter.