It’s Blue Wall Monday and families are paying the price

Today marks Blue Monday when Brits are left counting up their Christmas bills. 

For families in the Blue Wall, there is an additional hit to their finances: The Conservative Government. 

New analysis by the Liberal Democrats reveals the typical family in the South East will be £760 worse off this January compared to last year – including paying an extra £620 more a month in mortgage bills after the Conservative party’s economic vandalism. 

Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper said:

“This Blue Wall Monday, the Liberal Democrats are calling for an end to Conservative party chaos which has left families facing unaffordable bills. 

“Blue Wall voters face a clear choice at the next election: Four more years of the economic vandals who hiked your bills, or a hardworking Liberal Democrat MP who will never play politics with your mortgage.” 

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

The £760 a month hit to a typical family in the South East is made up of:

• Income Tax: An extra £40 a month due to the freezing of the personal allowance and basic rate limit in April 2022 (assuming one higher rate and one basic rate taxpayer in the family).

• Mortgages: An extra £620 a month for a family with a £280,000 mortgage (the average advance in the South East in 2021) whose interest rate has increased from 2% to 6%. [Source: ONS]

• Energy Bills: An extra £102 a month for a typical family due to the increase from £1,277 a year under the Oct 2021 – Apr 2022 price cap to £2,500 under the Government’s Energy Price Guarantee now.

Analysis by the Liberal Democrats has revealed that 48 of the top 50 constituencies affected by rising mortgage rates in England and Wales have Conservative MPs, with the Liberal Democrats the main challengers in four of the top 10.

The Liberal Democrats are proposing a new Mortgage Protection Fund, which would provide temporary grants to those most at risk of repossession – homeowners on the lowest incomes and those seeing the sharpest rises in mortgage rates. Anyone who sees their mortgage payments rise by more than 10% of their household income would get a grant to cover the cost of that rise for the next year, up to a maximum of £300 a month.