CIRCUMSTANCES when “people are marginalised and suffer due to institutional failures” were a cause for concern, the Bishop of Chelmsford, Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, said in the House of Lords on 7 February, because “it is important that they are not forgotten and that the injustice is put right.”
The debate, for the second reading of the Mortgage Prisoners Inquiry Bill, and moved by Lord Sharkey (Liberal Democrat), raised the issue of borrowers “who are stuck with their existing lenders and cannot access a better deal such as a fixed rate”. As a result, their mortgage deals are punitive, the Lords heard.
“Mortgage prisoners deserve our attention. Many have suffered enormously already. Some are trapped in paying interest-only mortgages, and with little equity left in their homes,” Dr Francis-Dehqani said. “In most cases, families cannot easily move elsewhere when they have young children or strong ties to their localities. Many are unable to cope with the high interest payments, and are now in arrears, which narrows their options even further. This situation is a consequence of the way in which [the] Government sold the mortgages of collapsed lenders back into the private sector, as well as the failure to take proper responsibility since then.”
She said that she supported the proposal “to set up a public inquiry to investigate the issue. . . Clearly, this is a complex issue, but, if a public inquiry can lead to decisive action to set these mortgage prisoners free, it would draw a line under the scandal, which has been going on for far too long and amounts to a deep injustice.”
The Earl of Lytton made reference to a man he met who had “bought an investment flat in Chelmsford built by Barratt”, but could not renew his mortgage, because of “cladding and compartmentation issues, and was thus caught up in the post-Grenfell building safety crisis”. The Bishop said that she was “for obvious reasons particularly sorry to hear about the terrible case of the gentleman in Chelmsford”.
Responding for the Government, the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Lord Livermore, clarified that “the vast majority of the mortgages, under less stringent lending conditions prior to the financial crisis . . . were with Northern Rock or Bradford and Bingley, which were subsequently nationalised by the Government to protect financial stability.”
The Government was mindful, he said, of “the importance of delivering value for money to the taxpayer”, and that “given the volume of information already in the public domain, we do not believe a further inquiry would provide any significantly new information or additional support to those affected”.
The Bill now moves to Committee Stage.
Comment, page 13
