LOCAL PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING FROM THE EFFECT OF HIGH INTEREST RATES - BURT

8.27.00pm GMT Thu 8th Nov 2007

Commenting after today's announcement by the Bank of England that the base rate of interest will remain unchanged at 5.75%, West Worcestershire's Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate, Richard Burt said:

"In light of rising inflationary pressures it is no great surprise that interest rates remain unchanged, but this will be of little comfort for the thousands of local people struggling with mortgage repayments.

"More and more people are coming off fixed-rate mortgages set two or three years ago when interest rates were low, and they are now feeling the effects of considerably higher interest rates.

"High borrowing costs have been exacerbated by many banks raising their interest rates on lending in recent months to cover their losses from the collapse of the US sub prime mortgage market.

"Families across Worcestershire are now facing the double whammy of high borrowing costs and signs of a slow down in the economy, which is threatening overall economic stability.

"It is essential that specific measures are now taken to regain economic stability by including house prices in inflation figures, forming a strategy to deal with rising repossessions and improving banking regulation to deal with irresponsible lending."