Orders of the Day — Consumer Credit Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 4:46 pm on 13 January 2005.

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Photo of Andrew Selous Andrew Selous Opposition Whip (Commons) 4:46, 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 30 July 2004 that, over the past six years, there had been a 44 per cent. increase in the number of people coming into CABs with debt problems. This is not debt that people can cope with easily. We know from Citizens Advice, which everyone has praised today, that this is a widespread national problem.

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.