The Government's £50bn asset backed guarantee scheme to kick-start the UK mortgage market is not working, according to the communities select committee. MPs also called for skills and capacity in the UK construction sector to be protected because it took 10 years to rebuild capacity in the industry after the last recession. The MPs claims were made as two separate reports – by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) – said UK property prices would struggle to make meaningful recoveries until mortgages were more readily available. Chair of the committee, Dr Phyllis Starkey, said: ‘In its current form, the ABS is a leap that reaches across only half the chasm – impressive, but doomed to fail. If we are to meet house-building targets, then CLG ministers and senior officials must maintain pressure on the Treasury to bring forward new measures to get the mortgage markets moving.' The report added that government policy did not give enough attention to the rental sector. Dr Starkey said: ‘We now need a vigorous debate to review this approach and formulate a more coherent vision to guide effective housing policy and investment into the future.'
