Mortgage and Rental Costs

Debate between Rachel Reeves and Kim Johnson

Tuesday 27th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. People who live in Hornsey and Wood Green, where house prices are high, will see a big increase in their payments. When rates go up from below 2%, which is what many people were paying, to above 6%, there will be huge increases. It is through no fault of my hon. Friend’s constituents, or any of our constituents, that they are in that position, which is what is so frustrating.

I remember a time—you may as well, Madam Deputy Speaker—when the Tory party used to preach personal responsibility, yet this Government are taking no responsibility for the devastation that they have caused. Where is the apology for the Tory mini-Budget? Where is the apology to those paying hundreds of pounds more a month in mortgage payments, or to those at risk of losing their homes? There is nothing.

Let us just imagine for a moment that a group of people working in an office, a supermarket or a factory burn the place down. Everyone else who works there is told that they have to pay to clean up the mess and that that payment will carry on for years. The next day, the arsonists turn up to work again, expecting to be paid as normal and, not only that, they are furious if someone even brings up the incident of the fire with them. That would be preposterous and outrageous, and yet it is precisely what the Government are doing. “Inflation? Oh, that was nothing to do with us. It was all global events. It was those public sector workers asking for a pay rise. It was the Bank of England. It definitely was not anything to do with us.” That is what we hear from this Government. Well, we know what the Tories did last autumn was totally outrageous. The country will not forgive or forget the scale of the harm that the Tories have caused to the economy and to families up and down our country.

The Government say that this is happening everywhere, so let us look at what is happening in Europe. The latest data comparing interest rates among our European neighbours show that a household in Britain, with a £200,000 mortgage, is now paying over £2,000 per year more for its mortgage than in France, over £1,000 a year more than in Ireland or Belgium, and £800 more than in Germany. That impact on families in Britain reflects the choices made by this Tory Government.

To make matters worse, after 13 years of the Tory Government being in power, average real wages are still lower than they were in 2010. Many families have faced one financial pressure after another. Energy bills are twice as high as a year ago. The weekly food shop is astronomical. On top of all that, higher mortgages and higher rents are the last thing they needed. No one is reassured by the suggestion from the Prime Minister that he is “100% on it”. After 13 years in power, it is clearer by the day that the Tories are the problem, not the solution.

The truth of the matter is that we have the highest inflation in the G7, with core inflation rising and interest rates rising too. We are in a weaker position than many as a consequence of Tory choices that have left our economy lacking resilience and security in the face of shocks, including global ones. Banning onshore wind, closing our gas storage facilities and scrapping the home insulation programme have all contributed to higher bills, higher costs and less security.

A patchwork Brexit deal full of holes is making goods such as food more expensive, with the prospect that that could get worse at the end of this year, with new import checks and costs. What is the Government’s latest idea? One of the Chancellor’s economic advisers called last week for the Bank of England to “create a recession”, adding:

“They have to create uncertainty and frailty."

Will the Minister tell us whether the Chancellor agrees with that advice from his advisers? If not, why is taking advice from them?

A Labour Government would be built on the firm foundations of economic responsibility, with strong fiscal rules. We would negotiate a bespoke British food and farming agreement with our trading partners, while staying out of the single market and customs union. We would lift the ban on onshore wind and reform antiquated planning rules, working in partnership with businesses and trade unions to invest in the jobs and industries of the future, protect our energy security and reduce our energy bills. That is what is needed to get our economy on sustainable and stable path, so that families are not grappling with a cost of living crisis created by this Tory Government.

If ever there were proof that the Government do not have the answers that our country needs, it is what is happening on housing. The Conservatives once claimed to be the party of home ownership: not any more. Home ownership is falling. It is not because of just their failure to require lenders to provide mandatory support for mortgage holders, although that would certainly help today. Incredibly, the Prime Minister has scrapped house building targets in the face of pressure from some of his councillors and Back Benchers. The consequence of the Tory Government’s policy is now to push the prospect of home ownership for young people and families starting out in life even further away.

[Kim Johnson (Liverpool, Riverside) (Lab)]

My right hon. Friend is making excellent points, particularly about young people being priced out of the property market. Does she agree that we need to overhaul the housing system to include better rights for renters and more council housing?

[Rachel Reeves]

My hon. Friend makes a really important point, because the Tory mortgage bombshell is experienced whether people have a mortgage or not. Renters are seeing huge increases in their rents—on average 10% in the last year—in Liverpool and around the country. That is why Labour’s renters charter is so important right now.

Treasury Ministers remain ignorant or indifferent to the plight of the renters whom my hon. Friend spoke about. A Labour Government would bring in a renters charter, ending no-fault evictions, and introduce a four-month notice period. Renters right now are exposed to their landlords passing the higher costs of their mortgages on to their tenants. Yet it is not clear whether the voluntary package, which the Chancellor described yesterday, includes buy-to-let mortgages. Will the Government tell the House and the country what they think the consequences of that will be? Labour would rebalance the housing market towards first-time buyers and towards renters. We would bring in a comprehensive mortgage guarantee scheme, stopping overseas investors buying whole developments off plan, and introduce our tough private renters charter.

The Tory mortgage bombshell could not come at a worse time for family finances—right in the middle of a cost of living crisis. Our country is being made to pay the growing price of Tory economic failure. People cannot afford this Tory Government. We have seen mistake after mistake, wrong decisions taken for the wrong reasons, and the Government never standing up for working families and refusing to take responsibility for the problems that they have created. The only thing that the Tories have to offer is desperate excuses for the state of the country after 13 years of their Government.

At the next election, people will be asking this question: are me and my family better off after 13 years of Conservative Government? The answer to that is a resounding no. The last thing that our country needs is this Tory mortgage bombshell. The country needs security for working people. That is what Labour will deliver. We are on to the third Prime Minister of this Parliament. If this Government had any decency, they would call a general election and let the people decide who they want to stand up for them and lead our country.

Tackling Fraud and Preventing Government Waste

Debate between Rachel Reeves and Kim Johnson

Tuesday 1st February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

I understand that MPs want to represent businesses employing people in their constituencies, but it is the role of the Chancellor and the Government to make sure that money goes only to people who deserve it, not fraudsters. The hon. Gentleman was a member of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, which I chaired. The Committee did ask the Government to get money to businesses that needed it, like those mentioned by Labour Members, but basic checks that could have been done in a matter of minutes were not done. He will know, because of this Government’s tax rises and the increase in energy prices, that an average household in his constituency will, from April, be £1,378 worse off.

[Kim Johnson (Liverpool, Riverside) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that the £4.3 billion that has been written off is a disgrace, given that the austerity that local authorities have suffered over the past 12 years has had a major impact on the people they serve and our communities?

[Rachel Reeves]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. Her council in Liverpool and all our councils have lost money, and this Government are handing it out to criminals. Billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money has been written off, but it was not the Chancellor’s money to write off; it is the public’s. The Government have clearly lost their grip. We must restore faith and confidence in how taxpayers’ money is spent.

We have a National Crime Agency in our country for a reason: to tackle serious and organised crime. It should be the National Crime Agency that the Government ring first on such occasions, but instead there are reports that they do not even want it to look into the matter. The Chancellor said earlier that just 13 cases are being looked at by the National Crime Agency. That is why Labour has brought our motion to the House today: to call on the Government not only to come back by 31 March with a clear answer about how much of their money has been clawed back from criminals, but to allow the National Crime Agency full access to investigate all aspects of fraud within covid support. The Government should not be resisting any effort whatever to retrieve taxpayers’ money and to hold people responsible. We need to know how it is so easy for organised criminals to steal from right under the Treasury’s nose.