Steve Baker
Main Page: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)Department Debates - View all Steve Baker's debates with the HM Treasury
(10 years, 5 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Osborne
We have put a huge effort—I pay tribute to the Exchequer Secretary who has led this work—into ensuring that we collect the taxes that are due. As a result, many billions of pounds more in taxes are collected. We are eliminating abuse that existed before we arrived, such as that involving stamp duty, and we set our tax rates fairly. We do not have a situation, as we did under the previous Government, where people in the City were paying lower tax rates than the people who cleaned for them.
Steve Baker (Wycombe) (Con)
4. What steps he is taking to ensure future stability in the housing market.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr George Osborne)
Our economic plan is about stability and security, so we are taking two steps on housing. First, we are building more homes, so that supply better matches demand. The Government’s reforms mean that housing starts are now at a six-year high. Secondly, we have given the Bank of England the responsibility and the tools to deal with any financial risk associated with the housing market, and I am clear that the banks should not hesitate to use those new powers if they think it is necessary to protect financial stability.
Steve Baker
On 19 May, The Telegraph reported that house prices jumped £10,000 in five weeks when the Bank of England threatened to cap mortgages. Will my right hon. Friend take steps to ensure that the Bank does not inadvertently promote financial instability when it exercises those powers?
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.