Rishi Sunak offers no help for people struggling with mortgages amid soaring rates

The Prime Minister has signalled the Government will not be offering any extra help to homeowners struggling with rising mortgage rates.

In a huge blow to those already on the property ladder and first time buyers, Mr Sunak said on ITV’s Good Morning Britain the Government needs to ‘stick to the plan’ to halve inflation amid the cost-of-living crisis.

It comes as the average two-year fixed mortgage rate soared above 6% on Monday, in more bad news for homeowners and prospective buyers.

Asked if the Government will be offering help to people facing difficulty keeping up with the growing rates of mortgage repayments, Mr Sunak said: “I know the anxiety people will have about the mortgage rates, that is why the first priority I set out at the beginning of the year was to halve inflation because that is the best and most important way that we can keep costs and interest rates down for people.

“We’ve got a clear plan to do that, it is delivering, we need to stick to the plan.

“But there is also support available for people. We have the mortgage guarantee scheme for first-time buyers and we have the support for mortgage interest scheme which is there to help people as well.

“But look, that is why my first priority is to halve inflation, one of my other priorities is to cut the waiting lists.”

It has been reported in The Times, the Government is considering prioritising British citizens on social housing lists in order to cut waiting times.

There are currently more than one million people waiting for social housing, and under current rules, refugees, migrants with visas and people who came on schemes such as Homes for Ukraine are eligible for council homes.

On Sunday, Levelling Up secretary Michael Gove said he was ‘concerned’ by events in the mortgage market and he hoped help for mortgage holders was being kept ‘under review’.

Speaking to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge, he said: “It is a very difficult situation for hundreds of thousands of people and that is why it’s vitally important that the Government does everything that it can in order to help people with the cost of living.”

He added: “When it comes to mortgages, it’s the independent Bank of England’s interest rate decisions that will govern that, but we are looking at everything that we can do in order to help homeowners through this difficult period.”

The Bank of England is set to increase interest rates for the 13th time in a row on Thursday, putting a tighter squeeze on mortgage holders during a cost of living crisis.

Some experts are expecting interest rates to rise by 0.25% — taking the rate to 4.75% — and have warned there could be further increases on the horizon.

This would help to drive the cost of borrowing and hitting more than a million mortgage holders whose fixed-rate deals are due to expire soon.