Chris Leslie MP, Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, responding to George Osborne’s comments this afternoon on interest rates, said:

“George Osborne used to say that low interest rates were a sign his policies were working. Now he’s desperately trying to claim that if they go up they’re also a sign of success. Nobody will be fooled by him trying to have it both ways.

“Interest rate decisions are rightly made by the Bank of England’s independent MPC. But the danger is that George Osborne’s failure to boost housing supply ends up forcing the Bank of England to raise interest rates prematurely to rein in the housing market. This would hit millions of families and businesses across the country already struggling with a cost-of-living crisis.”

Ends

Editor’s notes:

1. The first point of the Conservative Party’s “long-term economic plan” says it will “keep mortgage rates low”: http://www.conservatives.com/Plan.aspx

“We must ensure that we keep this country safe with low interest rates. Let me just remind the Leader of the Opposition of this: if interest rates went up by 1% in this country, that would add £1,000 to the typical family mortgage.”
David Cameron, PMQs, 23 Nov 2011
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm111123/debtext/111123-0001.htm#11112385000015

“Fiscal credibility is not some abstract concept - it keeps families in their homes, firms in business, people in their jobs. A 1% rise in our interest rates today would add £10 billion to family mortgage bills alone, at the worst possible time.”
George Osborne, Conservative Party conference, 3 October 2011 http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2011/10/britain-british-world-business