UK General Election - Update

Labour pitch mortgage guarantee for first-time buyers
Labour says it will make permanent a scheme designed to ensure low-deposit mortgages are available for first-time buyers, if it wins the general election.

The mortgage guarantee scheme was introduced by the Conservatives in 2021 when Rishi Sunak was chancellor of the Exchequer.

It was extended until July next year by current Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he wanted to "turn the dream of owning a home into a reality".

The measure sees the government act as guarantor for part of a home loan – to encourage lenders to offer low-deposit deals.

The Labour Party says its plan will help more than 80,000 young people get on to the housing ladder over the next five years.

But according to the Office for National Statistics, external, some 40% of 16.5 million people aged 15 to 34 in the UK were living with their parents in 2022 - about 6.7 million people.

Labour says making the scheme permanent will mean young people facing tough conditions in the private rented sector or struggling to save will not be "locked out of homeownership".

It would be known as "Freedom to Buy", the party says.

Laura Trott, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: "Only Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives have a clear plan, backed by bold action, to strengthen the economy, bring mortgage costs down and help more people get on the housing ladder."

SNP candidate for Airdrie and Shotts, Anum Qaisar, said Scottish households were "being punished by Westminster failures", adding that "the cost of mortgages and energy bills are too high and families need help now."

The Liberal Democrats said they would "put community need over developer greed, giving people the chance to get on the housing ladder with genuinely affordable houses."

Conservatives vow to let high earners keep more in child benefits
Parents earning six-figure salaries could be able to keep some or all of their child benefit payments, under proposals put forward by the Conservatives.

The party says that if re-elected on 4 July, it would increase the income threshold at which someone starts to lose their child benefits from £60,000 to £120,000.

It has also re-committed itself to changing the rules so the threshold level takes into account a household's income, rather than an individual's.

The previous system of calculating the threshold based on one earner has been criticised for unfairly penalising single parents and families with one high earner.

The Conservatives say 700,000 families would benefit from the change by an average of £1,500.

Labour said Rishi Sunak was "adding to his list of desperate and unfunded policies that he knows can't be delivered".

The Liberal Democrats said Conservative policies "aren't worth the paper they are written on, after years of hiking taxes on hardworking families".

Responding to the Conservative announcement, the SNP said Westminster parties should "follow the lead of the SNP Scottish Government and introduce the equivalent of the Scottish Child Payment which has lifted 100,000 Scottish children out of poverty".

Policy Roundup
The Chamber has compiled a summary of the policies which are known so far, which have been trailed before the election was announced and shared since it was announced.

You can access this summary by clicking HERE