Chris Leslie MP, Labour’s financial secretary to the Treasury, responding to the Financial Conduct Authority’s announcement on payday lenders, said:

“While these steps by the FCA are welcome, it is astonishing that Ministers are still moving at such a snail’s pace. They are refusing to speed up new powers for the regulator, delaying real time monitoring across the high cost loans sector and prevaricating about a cap on the total cost of credit.

"The payday lenders are making a mint while Ministers sit on their hands. As Ed Miliband has said, we need the Government to make faster progress on a cap for the cost of these high cost loans. The regulators should be given their full powers now to keep pace with the growth of this sector, which is driven by the cost of living crisis people are facing under this government.”

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