Gordon Brown insisted measures were in place to tackle rising repossessions as new figures showed the numbers of people who lost their homes last year hit a 12-year high.
DAMIEN HENDERSON and TORCUIL CRICHTON
Gordon Brown insisted measures were in place to tackle rising repossessions as new figures showed the numbers of people who lost their homes last year hit a 12-year high.
As the Prime Minister made his comments during a visit to his Fife constituency, Scottish Labour yesterday attacked the SNP administration in Scotland for failing to introduce legal safeguards to protect homeowners.
Figures published yesterday by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) showed the number of repossessions in the UK soared by 54% to 40,000 in 2008.
Separate figures from the Scottish Courts Service show the number of repossession actions raised in Sheriff Courts across Scotland last month was up by 9% compared with a year previously. A total of 551 actions were raised, of which 452 were found in favour of the lender - though it is not known what proportion resulted in eviction.
Repossession levels are expected to rise further as the credit crunch continues to bite, with the CML predicting 75,000 people will lose their homes this year.
The CML said there were 5000 fewer repossessions in 2008 than it had predicted, demonstrating that mortgage lenders were making "strenuous efforts" to ensure it was a last resort.
Speaking during a visit to Burntisland Fabrications in his Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency, Mr Brown insisted the UK Government was pulling out all the stops to ensure repossessions do not become as prominent in the current recession as in previous slumps.
"We're determined that this will not become as high a feature as it has been in previous downturns in the country," he said.
"The measures we're putting in place are coming in and I believe we will be able to see an impact on the rate of repossession."
Conservative shadow housing minister Grant Shapps said the figures were just the tip of the recession iceberg.
"The countless housing initiatives that have been rushed out in a bid to try to grab the headlines have clearly not helped," said Mr Shapps. "To add insult to injury, Gordon Brown is hampering, not helping, hard-pressed families across the country as nationalised banks such as Northern Rock pursue very aggressive repossession policies."
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg accused Mr Brown of complacency in failing to heed warnings about a rise in repossessions. "Tens of thousands of families are going through the pain and misery of losing their homes while the government dithers," he said.
"If the government was serious about stemming the tide of repossessions it would give courts the power to ensure that repossession is the absolute last resort and remove the barriers to allow councils to invest in social housing."
And Scottish Labour reignited the row over the SNP's refusal to introduce a Scottish equivalent of the pre-court protocol in England and Wales to place a duty on lenders and courts to ensure that repossession is a last resort.
Cathy Jamieson, Labour health spokeswoman, accused Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon of "arrogance and complacency" over repossessions and called for legal aid to be provided for those faced with losing their home, as happens in England and Wales.
She said: "The number of people losing their homes has doubled as a result of the global economic crisis. We know that the introduction of pre-court protocols would help prevent families from being thrown on to the street."
The claims were rejected by Alex Neil, Minister for Housing and Communities, who claimed the Scottish Government was "ahead of the game" compared with England and Wales. "In January, we increased funding for the Home Owners Support Fund to £35m to help those who cannot access support anywhere else to stay in their homes through the Mortgage to Rent and Mortgage to Shared Equity schemes," he said.
"We have increased funding for debt advice services, with an additional £1m to Citizens Advice to increase the capacity of face-to-face debt advice services. And our awareness-raising campaign for National Debtline encouraged people to tackle their debt problems as early as possible."
The Scottish Government has set up a taskforce on repossessions due to report by April 30 on whether legislation on protection for those at risk of losing their home requires further strengthening.
