Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 4:46 pm on 13 January 2005.
We should all agree, in a debate in which we are making considerable criticisms of the lending industry, that responsible lending is important to all our constituents in helping them to navigate the financial pressures that we all face at various times in our lives. It is ridiculously easy, however, for our constituents to borrow wholly irresponsibly at a time when debt has spiralled and savings have plummeted. Total personal debt in the UK now stands at £1 trillion. I am not a mathematician, but it might be helpful to the mathematically unfamiliar if I say that a trillion is a 1 with 12 noughts after it. Unsecured personal debt has doubled since 1997. The director of policy advice at Citizens Advice reported on
I would like to give credit to the two citizens advice bureaux in my constituency, and to praise the excellent work that they do in Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard. I am grateful for the funding that they receive from South Bedfordshire district council, which in some cases helps them to employ additional financial advisers. I am also delighted that a credit union is about to be set up in the Downside area of Dunstable. I would like to see more credit unions in operation because they have an excellent record of operating in many areas of our constituencies that other financial institutions do not reach.