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Amendment of the law

There are quite a few measures that will help people in different sectors of the housing market, of which HomeBuy is one. It is not a huge scheme, just as the mortgage rescue scheme is not huge. There is a range of different measures targeted to support different groups of people. Furthermore, although it might sound cruel, the reduction in house prices will help first-time buyers, and the Building Societies Association projects that that reduction still has a bit further to go. Figures that have come out show that the cost of housing as a multiple of income is at its most favourable level for first-time buyers for a long time. The group about which I am most concerned, to which a lot of people in my constituency belong, comprises those who lose part of the family income, but who still have half a job, or work some hours. They do not qualify for the income-based jobseeker's allowance and so do not qualify for the support for mortgage interest payments. They are the people who will probably have the hardest time in the coming months, which is why I ask the Government to look again at that measure.