General Election

With the clock ticking towards the 7th May, this is a good time to reflect on what we’ve achieved in this parliament. In 2010 we inherited a broken housing market: builders couldn’t build, lenders wouldn’t lend and buyers couldn’t buy. Housebuilding starts were at their lowest for any peacetime year since the 1920s and a generation of hardworking young people – who could have rightly expected to take their first step on the property ladder – were locked out of homeownership. Great progress has been made but the challenge remains considerable.” Fast forward to today and the landscape is very different. The numbers of first-time buyers has hit a seven-year high; planning permission has been granted on 240,000 new homes in the year to October, and housebuilding starts are at their highest since 2007. LONG-TERM STRATEGY And this turnaround didn’t happen by accident – it required a longterm economic plan to restore confidence to the market and get the country building again. Above all that meant security. Firm action to tackle the deficit – keeping interest rates at their record low, ensuring mortgages remained affordable and encouraging business investment. We’ve supported the aspirations of hard-working people. Help to Buy is…