Mortgage payments for 100,000 households are set to shoot up before election day on 4 July, the Liberal Democrats claim.
A typical mortgage holder will see their payments rise by £240 a month, the party has claimed which, if true, will increase the Tory’s political woes.
Households hit
The LibDems say their prediction would see an average of 3,330 households a day being hit with higher mortgage rates, House of Commons Library research commissioned by the Lib Dems found.
In total, households coming off fixed rate mortgages ahead of polling day will pay an additional £290 million in mortgage costs over the next year, according to the Lib Dems.
‘Mortgage nightmare’
Sarah Olney, Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson, says: “This Conservative government crashed the economy and now they are condemning hard-working households to a mortgage nightmare.
Every day thousands of families are seeing their mortgage go up by eye-watering amounts.”
“Rishi Sunak’s claim that the government’s plan is working shows he is living in a parallel universe, as every day thousands of families are seeing their mortgage go up by eye-watering amounts.”
Last week, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised lower interest rates if the Tories win the General Election.
In a move away from the usual statements on rates, the PM didn’t just say it’s in the hands of the Bank of England.
Rate cuts ‘will happen’
Instead, he said rate cuts will happen because the economy was “heading in the right direction”.
The inflation rate fell to 2.3% in April from 3.2%, which was still higher than most economists had predicted.
And the Bank held the base rate at a 16-year high of 5.25% last month. Opinions are divided on whether a cut will now come this month or in August.