Consumer Credit and Debt Management

Part of Backbench Business — [18th Allotted Day] – in the House of Commons at 3:05 pm on 3 February 2011.

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Photo of John Woodcock John Woodcock Shadow Minister (Transport) 3:05, 3 February 2011

It is a pleasure to speak in this debate and to follow Craig Whittaker, who spoke well about an area that I know well and where I have relations. I add my congratulations to my hon. Friend Stella Creasy on showing the leadership to get this motion on the Order Paper today and to publicise it. She has been an example to us all.

This has been a good debate. Many hon. Members have spoken well and made excellent points. If the vast majority of hon. Members accept that there is a significant problem, it is a question of what the Government can and should do about it. As one hon. Member said, there is a legitimate argument in favour of funding financial inclusion education in early years education. Partly because of the progress made in recent years, that is necessary, but it is not sufficient on its own. We should welcome the fact that 350,000 loans have been made by the not-for-profit sector, but that is not enough, and the enormous problem of people being charged appalling rates of interest remains.

The question is this: if the Government decide that they cannot allocate the funds that they have allocated previously, can they take regulatory action to improve the situation and make a genuine difference? That is why I am disappointed by the response of some Government Members. They have a far greater grounding in such matters than I do and have spent much of their previous careers and parliamentary time in dealing with this issue, but they have not grasped the nettle, and they will not support the motion. Instead, they are taking a course of action that will ultimately delay things and put the matter in the hands of a regulator that has not been given sufficient political direction to tackle the problem head on.