Two million more homeowners in UK

Posted: 24 Sep 2007 10:58:36 GMT

Gordon Brown says that two million more people are on the property ladder as a result of the Labour government and brushed off criticism of rising debt levels.

Gordon Brown says that two million more people are on the property ladder as a result of the Labour government and brushed off criticism of rising debt levels.

In an interview on 'The Andrew Marr Show' on BBC One, the prime minister said that increasing debt is down to the fact that more people are now able to purchase their homes.

He described this as "a good thing, not a bad thing" and said that a strong economy means that only a minority of people are running into real difficulties.

"What the Conservatives are talking about is large numbers of people who have been able to take out mortgages and buy their homes for the first time," he said on the show.

"I think that the fact that we've got low inflation, it's gone down to two per cent again, the fact that we've got relatively low interest rates that will always bear down on inflation, means unlike the early 1990s…we have managed to maintain a growing economy.

"Where people can borrow to buy their own homes and do it in a situation where inflation and interest rates are low and people feel that there is stability in the economy," added Mr Brown.

He went on to say that low inflation means that most homeowners are spending just a small proportion of their income on paying their mortgages.

The prime minister compared this to the early 1990s when "we ran into so much trouble".

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