House of Commons – June 27, 2023 – 273

Question put (Standing Order No. 31(2)), That the original words stand part of the Question. Amendment: I beg to move an amendment, to leave out from “House” to the end of the Question and add: “welcomes the Government’s drive to halve inflation, grow the economy and reduce debt;

particularly welcomes the Government’s new Mortgage Charter which has been agreed by 85 per cent of the residential mortgage market and will provide support to mortgage holders through new commitments and flexibilities to help borrowers who are anxious about rising interest rates;

notes the extensive package of cost of living support to help families with rising prices, worth an average of £3,300 per household including direct cash payments to the eight million most vulnerable households;

and further believes that Labour’s policies to manage the economy would be inflationary, lead to higher interest rates and put more pressure on mortgage holders and renters.” Original words: I beg to move, That this House is extremely concerned that, under this Conservative Government, average mortgage costs will be increasing by £2,900 per year, with a typical household in the UK paying over £2,000 more per year than in France and over £1,000 more than in Ireland and Belgium, and that renters face huge increases in rent payments;

condemns the Government for its slowness in acting to support millions of homeowners and renters and so alleviate the impact of its policies;

calls on the Government to bring in mandatory measures, as the current voluntary measures could lead to around one million homeowners missing out on support, and to immediately adopt measures to ease the mortgage crisis and halt repossessions by guaranteeing support from lenders for struggling mortgage borrowers and strengthening the rights of renters;

in particular calls on the Government to require lenders to allow borrowers to switch to interest-only mortgage payments for a temporary period, to lengthen the term of their mortgage period, to reverse any support measures when requested and to make mandatory repossession restrictions;

and further calls on the Chancellor of the Exchequer to instruct the Financial Conduct Authority to urgently issue guidance that the credit score of borrowers should be unaffected by any temporary switches to interest-only mortgage payments or lengthening of their mortgage period and to introduce a renters’ charter that would end no-fault evictions immediately.