Clause 6 - Statements to be provided in relation tofixed-sum credit agreements
Consumer Credit Bill
10:00 am
Mr Gerry Sutcliffe (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Employment Relations, Competition and Consumers), Department of Trade and Industry; Bradford South, Labour)
I fully agree with the direction in which my right hon. Friend the Member for Leeds, West (Mr. Battle) is heading. The whole purpose of the Bill is about responsible lending and borrowing. We are talking about a mature credit market with regard to the type of credit available to consumers. For many years, my hon. Friend has been concerned about people at the lower end of the market, who can be exploited. It is our intention to ensure that people are not exploited; the provisions are about balance. We do not want to remove products from the marketplace that people who want short-term credit at the lower end of the market should have.