Westminster Control Costing Scots Households
The UK is set to have one of the highest rates of inflation in the G20, according to figures from the OECD, while separate statistic also show how home ownership is increasingly out of reach for too many.
The economic group’s forecasts show that the UK is predicted to have average inflation rates of nearly 7% in 2023 – much higher than most other G20 countries and higher than nations such as Ireland and Norway.
It comes as data from UK Finance also shows that, excluding the COVID lockdown period in spring 2020, the number of first-time buyers in the first quarter of 2023 is at its lowest level since 2015 – with the number of home movers at its lowest since 2009.
The figures also show that mortgage arrears are rising and people are increasingly taking out mortgages with longer terms, with a record one in five first-time buyers opting for mortgages of more than 35 years, significantly increasing the total debt paid.
Separately, data from Moneyfacts shows the typical rate for a new fixed-rate mortgage deal is now 5.75% for a two-year deal and 5.44% for a five-year deal – with interest rates expected to rise yet again this summer.
The OECD in its Economic Outlook forecasts also predicted the UK to have sluggish growth, with just 0.3% of GDP this year and 1% in 2024.
As a result of Tory economic incompetence, households here in Angus and across Scotland are struggling due to sky-high inflation and increasing mortgage bills – not to mention extortionate food and energy bills – plus next to no economic growth.
GRAEME
Home ownership shouldn’t be a pipe dream but for far too many that is what it is becoming in the UK.
With a Labour Party at Westminster every bit as committed to the damaging consequences of Brexit as the Tories, it should be increasingly clear that Scotland is being held back by Westminster control.
Small independent countries such as Ireland and Norway have higher growth and lower inflation rates than the UK – Scotland can do so much better.
