In response to the Government’s plans to relax the fiscal rules so it can borrow more money, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown raises concerns that increased borrowing will mean interest rates will stay higher for longer causing hardship for today’s mortgage payers and tomorrow’s generation of taxpayers, because they will have to repay this extra debt.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (North Cotswolds) (Con)
If we could stick with the here and now, what the Chancellor announced caused the bond markets to move almost immediately by almost 0.5%. That means that interest rates will stay higher for longer. Will the right hon. Gentleman confirm that that will cause hardship to today’s mortgage payers and tomorrow’s generation of taxpayers, because they will have to repay this extra debt?
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Darren Jones)
What I can confirm is that what affected interest rates and mortgage payments so severely was the chaotic behaviour of the hon. Gentleman’s party in government before the last election. That is why we have had to legislate to make sure that if they ever returned to Government, they could not behave in similar ways. We are taking a responsible approach to public spending, as I have set out today, and we will never return to the activities of his party in government.