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Housing and the Credit Crunch

I cannot give a detailed response, but I will look at the figures and will happily respond to the hon. Gentleman in writing. It is important that there has been a downward revision, because many people might have expected the figure to go in the opposite direction. I certainly recall that in those difficult days of the early 1990s the repossession figures escalated upwards, and the trend was extremely worrying and in the wrong direction. What we are seeing now is a serious rise in repossessions—that is a cause for real concern—but the latest projections are slightly lower than previously forecast.