The SNP has urged the Bank of England to cut interest rates – as the European Central Bank has done – as research shows mortgage costs, arrears and repossessions all continue to rise sharply.
The call comes ahead of the Bank of England’s August meeting of the monetary policy committee on today (Thursday).
The SNP’s Westminster economy spokesperson Dave Doogan has said “it’s time for Scottish families to stop paying the price for Westminster failures that have sent mortgage bills through the roof.”
Official figures show the number of homeowner mortgages in arrears of over 2.5% of their balance going from 76,620 in in Q1 2023 to 96,580 in Q1 2024 – a rise of 26%.
Mortgage possessions for homeowners have gone from 800 in Q1 2023 to 870 in Q1 2024 – a rise of 9%.
Previous analysis by the SNP shows at least 68,000 Scottish families are due to come off fixed rate mortgages between May and October of this year, rising to a total of 122,000 households by April 2025 and 201,000 by April 2026.
In total, the monthly cost of an average £161,578 two-year fixed-rate mortgage in Scotland has risen by more than fifty per cent from £662 to £995 a month.
In November 2021, the average two-year fix was 2.29% but now, following fourteen consecutive interest rate rises, it’s 5.93%.
A former Bank of England chief economist has said the central bank is already ‘six months late’ in starting to cut interest rates.
Commenting, SNP Westminster economy spokesperson, Dave Doogan MP said:
“It’s time for Scottish families to stop paying the price for Westminster failures that have sent mortgage bills through the roof.
“The evidence is clear – with mortgage costs, arrears and repossessions all rising sharply – households are a breaking point.
“The SNP believes the Bank of England should begin to help by lowering interest rates, as our European neighbours have done, to reduce the high cost of mortgages.
“It’s possible to fully respect the central bank’s independence whilst also giving our view that now is the right time to start helping mortgage holders by cutting interest rates.
“The newly formed Labour government must also bring in immediate measures to fix the mortgage mess that the Tories left behind.
“The public know that Brexit Britain is broken and soaring costs of interest rates and mortgage costs are another symptom of Westminster’s failures.
“The SNP promised voters we would stand up for Scotland’s interests and hold the Labour government to account – and that’s exactly what we intend to do.”
