MPs to confront Chancellor over Help to Buy Isas

Philip Hammond will be asked to justify the terms of the Government's controversial Help to Buy Isas, the chairman of the Treasury Select Committee has said.

Andrew Tyrie told The Daily Telegraph the committee would be asking the Chancellor about the savings scheme in the autumn.

The initiative has been slammed as a sham after it emerged that the 25% government bonus on savings for a first home could not be used towards the deposit.

Conservative MP Mr Tyrie said: "The detailed terms of the Help to Buy Isa take some justifying.

"The Treasury select committee will be asking the Chancellor to do so in the autumn."

Under the Help to Buy scheme, intended to help people get on to the housing ladder for the first time, buyers can save up to £200 a month, plus an initial deposit.

When it is put towards the purchase of a house the Government adds a 25% bonus up to £3,000.

But the bonus is only payable on completion, meaning it cannot be used as part of the deposit, despite many savers thinking it could.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, a Conservative MP who is also on the Treasury select committee called for the terms to be amended.

He told The Daily Telegraph: "I am very unsympathetic towards the Treasury for using small print to get out of promises they made to people."