Mortgage repossessions soared after Truss mini-budget, says Labour

Mortgage repossession claims soared following Liz Truss’s mini-budget, Labour has said as the party continues to attack the Conservatives on their economic record.

The party said a 25.6% increase in the number of repossession claims over 2023 was the result of the former prime minister’s mini-budget, which saw interest rates – and mortgage bills – climb steeply.

That rise in repossession claims included a 38% increase in the last three months of 2023 compared with the last three months of 2022.

Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner also accused Ms Truss of “parading around the world on some kind of twisted victory lap” as the former prime minister seeks to promote her new book, Ten Years To Save The West.

In the book, Ms Truss said she was “ecstatic” about the mini-budget, adding it was “probably my happiest moment as prime minister”.

Ms Rayner said: “Families across Britain have been put at risk of losing their home because of Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget.

“Yet while those households are having sleepless nights and living pay-day to pay-day, the former prime minister responsible is parading around the world on some kind of twisted victory lap.

“It is not the fault of homeowners that the Tories crashed the economy and sent mortgage bills soaring, and yet they’re the ones paying the price.”

Figures from the Ministry of Justice showed there were 16,598 repossession claims in England and Wales in 2023, up from 13,211 the previous year.

Ms Rayner’s comments come ahead of a campaign visit on Tuesday at which she and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves will argue that Labour will “protect family finances and get Britain building”.

The pair are expected to point to Labour’s promise of a “fiscal lock” that would prevent “reckless and unfunded spending pledges” such as the mini-budget and the Government’s commitment to abolish national insurance contributions.

Ms Rayner added: “Rishi Sunak’s £46 billion unfunded tax cut is the last thing that mortgage holders in this country need.

“The Tories may have got the country into this mess, but Labour will not allow reckless economic experiments to jeopardise the dream of home ownership.”

In a series of interviews promoting her new book, Ms Truss has defended her decisions on the mini-budget, saying interest rates had been “too low for too long” and calling for “a proper investigation into what happened in September 2022, and the actions the Bank of England took”.

She also argued that it was wrong to blame the mini-budget for the UK’s subsequent economic woes, saying this was a “smear” by her political opponents.