Thousands of families in North Swindon will be forced into making higher mortgage repayments as a result of rising interest rates.

That's according to Labour's candidate for the constituency, Will Stone.

But his Conservative opponent, MP Justin Tomlinson said Mr Stone is ignoring the wider picture.

Mr Stone said Labour Party analysis shows 14,200 families in North Swindon will face an average annual mortgage payment increase of £2,800 this year.

Mr Stone, adopted recently as the party’s candidate for North Swindon, said: “The Tory mortgage penalty is devastating for family finances and is holding back our economy.

“The country is buckling under 13 years of Conservative mismanagement and a crashed economy, and it is families being asked to pay more on their mortgage once again. 

“People are asking themselves whether they or their family are better off under the Tories. The answer is no. 

"Labour will bring financial and economic security back, so that families are not constantly on a cliff edge, and so that we can urgently grow our economy to grab hold of opportunities of the future."

But Mr Tomlinson hit back: “

 

When cutting and pasting this Labour Party template press release, the latest Labour candidate fails to comprehend the impacts of Covid and Putin’s illegal war which has driven high inflation in all economies around the world. 

"There is no doubt these are challenging times for the global economy, but crucially food and energy prices are starting to fall back, whilst our wider economy continues to grow, in stark contrast to our European neighbours.

 

"As a Government we are taking decisive action.  We have a moral responsibility to halve inflation by the end of the year the key to lower mortgage rates. 

We have also taken unprecedented action to help directly with rising costs.  Our £94bn Cost of Living support package has provided £3,300 on average per household to help with rising costs.”

The Bank Of England has raised the base rate of interest in an attempt to cool the economy in order to bring down the rate of inflation which has been running at above 10 per cent but has come down to just over eight per cent.

The theory is that by making credit harder to obtain, there will be less money circulating and driving up the cost of goods and services.