Labour Deputy Leader Angela Reyner has hit out at the Government over its handling of the economy and the impact current conditions are having on mortgage holders in Prime Ministers’ Questions today.
Oliver Dowden was once again standing in for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who is attending a NATO summit in Vilnius. He was also absent for last weeks PMQ’s.
Rayner said: “I looked up the last time a Prime Minister had missed two sessions in a row through other engagements, which was March 1996.
“And I’m very proud to be filling the boots of Lord John Prescott. But I think it’s fair to say he’s [Oliver Dowden] no [Michael] Heseltine.
“[That time] John Prescott asked, “Why is it in Tory Britain, tens of thousands of families are facing repossession, negative equity and homelessness?” Can he tell us why 27 years later why I’m having to ask the same question?
“Those already struggling are being hit hardest by the Tory mortgage bombshell and rising food costs.”
When Dowden responded that the deputy leader that “balancing the books means more than “working out how many millions to take from her union paymasters,” Reyner branded the Tories the party that “crashed the economy” blasting the Government as being “out of touch” with what it is like for working people in the country.
The Government has launched a Mortgage Charter with 85% of lenders now signed up. Lenders have also committed to provide support for struggling homeowners.
But both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have been attacking the Government over recent weeks for their handling of the economy and the struggles facing mortgage holders.
The Liberal Democrats have called for a £3bn emergency mortgage protection fund to protect homeowners.
Yesterday, Labour’s Shadow Housing Secretary, Lisa Nandy, strongly criticised the Government for landing a “mortgage bombshell” on homeowners.
Nandy claimed that the Tories had let down prospective homeowners and renters alike and had failed to deliver on housing needs. She argued that too many families saving to buy their first homes felt they were failing to make progress.
She said: “Millions are feeling the pain from this Tory economic failure.”
