Moves to lessen mortgage increase pain 'risky territory'

PROTECTING people with mortgages from the pain of interest rate increases would be “risky territory” for the Government, the former deputy governor of the Bank of England has said.

The comments by Sir Charles Bean came as Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove said he was “concerned” by events in the mortgage market. Mr Gove told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday show: “It is a very difficult situation for hundreds of thousands of people and that is why it’s vitally important that the Government does everything that it can in order to help people with the cost of living.”

He added: “When it comes to mortgages, it’s the independent Bank of England’s interest rate decisions that will govern that, but we are looking at everything that we can do in order to help homeowners through this difficult period.”

The squeeze on mortgage holders is set to tighten as the Bank of England gets ready to hike interest rates for the 13th time in a row, experts have said. Some analysts are expecting UK interest rates to rise by another 0.25 percentage points on Thursday and say there could be more hikes on the horizon.