CML publishes Budget submission

With the date of the Budget now confirmed as 24 March, the Council of Mortgage Lenders has produced a Budget submission urging the government to commit to the ongoing funding of measures to help borrowers in financial difficulty.

The CML's submission also urges the government to use the Budget to announce how it will work with the industry to address the market implications of lenders repaying the £300 bn support given under the Special Liquidity Scheme and the Credit Guarantee Scheme. This is a matter of urgency in view of the scale of the problem and its potential knock-on implications on future funding to support economic recovery.

Finally, the CML urges the government to clarify how it will address growing demand for affordable housing in both home-ownership and rental tenures, against the backdrop of fiscal cutbacks.

CML director general Michael Coogan observed:

"At the moment we cannot see how to square the circle between increasing demand for housing, constraints on the necessary finance to deliver it, the repayment of £300 billion of lending support between 2011 and 2014, and reductions in public spending as the fiscal deficit is addressed. And all of these features apply at a time when more people are going to need housing help.

"Lenders have been active in supporting lending to all tenures, and are committed to delivering an ongoing flow of finance for housing in all its forms, but at the moment there is too little clarity about how the competing policy pressures can be reconciled. The Chancellor should take the opportunity in the Budget to address this.

"We call on the leaders of all political parties to commit to prioritise spending on housing in the coming years, at a time when we recognise difficult investment choices will have to be made in the next comprehensive spending review. Housing can be a driver of economic recovery, but the lack of it contributes to a wide range of social problems."