Treasury rules out mortgage support

Michael Gove, levelling up secretary, has stated that getting to the “root cause” of the problem is a better solution than temporary support with payments.

Ministers are working with banks to present customers with alternative forms of support such as payment holidays and extended terms.

Gove and Treasury put the reasoning down to the risk of inflation being pushed up by any form of formal payment support for mortgage payments.

With mortgage rates hitting 6.01% on two-year deals, the finances of UK households are being squeezed more than ever, and support seems desirable, if not necessary.

This comes as the MPC (monetary policy committee) meet this week in order to vote on whether to further raise the BoE’s interest rates, which are currently at 4.5%.

Speaking to the BBC, Gove said: “If you spend public money in order to deal with particular crises, you are inevitably adding to the stock of debt. And if you add to the stock of debt, that puts pressure on interest rates. The worst thing to do would be to spend money in order to provide short-term relief, which would mean... overall finances are in a weaker position.”