---

European Council

One of the announcements that I made during the statement was that the Government are creating a new group to look at mortgage markets, and that will cover some of the questions that my hon. Friend raises. I agree that it is important at these times that we do everything we can to help those who are finding it difficult to pay their mortgages. However, she will note that the rate of people losing their homes and the rate of people who are in arrears on their mortgages are substantially lower than they were in the last world downturn in the early 1990s, when we had more home repossessions than at any time in our history.