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Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

The hon. Gentleman might be able to catch your eye later, Madam Deputy Speaker. However, if he will forgive me, I have only a short time available so I shall concentrate on my own constituency. Home owners have benefited from low and stable interest rates, with a current rate of 4.5 per cent. The jewel in the crown of economic success is the lowest mortgage rates since the 1950s, cutting mortgage costs for the average mortgage payer by about £4,000 a year. Scotland’s housing market is set for another boom year, with prices rising at twice the rate for the UK as a whole according to Halifax Bank of Scotland, Britain’s biggest mortgage lender. Even so, Martin Ellis, chief economist at the Bank of Scotland, has pointed out:"““Scotland remains the most affordable part of the UK.””" Coatbridge in my constituency recorded the biggest house price increase in the UK during 2005, with an average rise of 36 per cent.. That is tangible evidence of prosperity across the UK, and not only for the wealthy.