Rushanara Ali
Main Page: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Stepney)Department Debates - View all Rushanara Ali's debates with the HM Treasury
(1 year, 6 months ago)
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Andrew Griffith
My right hon. Friend—I congratulate him as well—is right to say that one factor is the level of Government borrowing. This Government have had to borrow unprecedented amounts due to the covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine, and to provide households with that support of about £3,300 over this year and last. That is one reason why one of our key priorities is to reduce the level of debt.
Rushanara Ali (Bethnal Green and Bow) (Lab)
The Minister likes to point out, as he has done again, that this is about international factors and covid—there are lots of other reasons given. However, the Government fail to mention the mini-Budget fiasco caused by the previous Chancellor and the former Prime Minister, with its direct consequence of mortgage increases, with millions of people suffering. Why does the Economic Secretary not come clean on this, as the former Prime Minister and former Chancellor, who presided over that chaos, have done? It is not time that he stopped whitewashing and faced the reality of what he and his Government are responsible for, which is causing misery to people’s lives?
Andrew Griffith
The hon. Lady needs to look at the facts and the numbers. Despite moving in alignment with other international markets—and interest rates have increased over time—interest rates even today for mortgage holders are lower than those reached in October last year. So we are dealing with a macroeconomic international trend, which we are seeing across all western economies. We are moving in alignment with them, but this Government will always prioritise support for households, which is one reason why we have come forward with such significant economic packages in the past two years.