Lib Dem plans to tackle Credit Crunch

Liberal Democrats have unveiled a plan to get the economy back on track and make sure that it can stand up to the buffeting the international markets and the credit crunch are giving it.

The plan is specifically designed to protect homeowners from bearing the brunt of the mistakes made by banks.

Main points in the plan are:

• Taking the banks by the scruff of their necks, not tugging at their sleeves. It is time the chancellor made it clear that taxpayers will not be made to bear the brunt of mistakes made by the banks.
• In return for money being pumped into the market and the guarantees being offered by the Bank of England, banks need to come clean about the full level of their losses.
• Lenders must stop anti-social repossession practices. While some high street banks already ensure that repossession is a genuine last resort, many sub-prime lenders repossess in a highly aggressive manner.
• The financial sector needs to accept that there can never again be a credit boom like this.
• Credit must be more tightly controlled in boom periods to help mitigate the effects of a slowdown.

Meanwhile Ribble Valley Lib Dem parliamentary spokesman, Allan Knox, accused the Tories of having no answers to the crisis.

He said: “All they can do is carp and criticise the government. Their only policy is to say the Stamp Duty threshold for first timebuyers should be raised to £250,000, yet when you look at the sums - it doesn’t add up.”