Ask most people what they’d do if they came into some unexpected cash and more often than not the answer is: “Pay off the mortgage.”
They are a burden, of course, but also a loan worth paying off.
Because owning a home is something that for generations has been a vital part of life.
Of course, the landscape is changing. More people have found themselves frozen out as property prices spiral.
But for those who got in at the right time, owning your own home is a special thing.
Many work hard all their lives to put a roof over their heads.
It brings safety, security and as a home’s value builds, it offers the chance to pass something on to the next generation.
So when anything threatens the status of your mortgage, it hits hard.
The stress and worry people are going through at the moment is understandable.
It’s tough enough to make ends meet as it is – let alone having to find extra each month to meet repayments.
So to see banks raise their standard variable rates above the base rate hike is sickening for the thousands who will be renewing mortgages and paying hundreds more every month.
There has never been a clearer picture of how out of touch the Government – and the banks – are than the meeting that took place in Downing Street on Friday.
Millionaires meeting millionaires to throw around solutions. Not much came of it to be honest. Never does.
We did learn one of these bank bosses has a £12,000 treehouse in their back garden.
We need solutions to this mortgage crisis quickly. Labour has already set out a five-point plan that will offer some relief.
It’s desperately needed. As is a change of government. It shouldn’t have had to come to this but people are – literally – betting their houses on the outcome of the next election.
End the party
Speaking of out-of-touch – this week we bring you more Partygate revelations.
This time, it’s clear that not only were these terrible parties going on but they were going on right under the noses of those who were so quick to wash their hands of the allegations.
First the Tory who held a “Jingle and Mingle” drinks reception claimed he left the party’s campaign HQ before it turned into a wild party. Now he says he was “unintentionally inaccurate” and actually he was in the building all along. Easy mistake to make.
And the fallout will continue.
There have been chances to draw a line under this scandal but instead the people at the heart of the affair have been rewarded and honoured by the Government.
It’s time for a full and frank assessment of what happened during these parties – and those who broke the law and flouted the rules should be brought to account.
