Rowen questions Prime Minister over repossessions

Rochdale MP Paul Rowen quizzed Gordon Brown at Prime Minister's Question Time this week, arguing that while up to 50,000 homeowners across the country face repossession, a Government scheme has so far only been able to help two homeowners nationwide.

Mr Brown responded by saying that this was not true and that mortgage schemes have helped 'thousands'. "We are trying to help those people to maintain their mortgages and re-negotiate them and I think you’ll find no Government has done more to help mortgage payers to prevent repossession. We will not walk by on the other side.”

Nearly 1,000 homes in Greater Manchester have been repossessed in the first quarter of this year.

Figures show that between January and March 2008 mortgage lenders launched 400 repossession actions in county courts — up 32% in the same period of 2007.

In response, Mr Rowen said: “Every time the Government makes an announcement on repossessions, it seems to end up helping very few families at all. Recent figures released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders have shown that the number of house repossessions in the UK has risen to 12,800 in the first three months of the year. We warned the Government to expect up to 50,000 repossessions this year but Gordon Brown dismissed us. We now have charities such as Shelter expressing concern at these new figures stating that they paint a very depressing picture of the future.

“Under this Government repossessions have become the easy option for banks desperate to reduce their mortgage book. What we need is a new code of practice for mortgage lenders to ensure a property is only repossessed as a last resort. The Government needs to be doing more to protect the thousands of families whose homes are at risk, many of which are in Rochdale.”