Shadow Chancellor slammed for mortgage costs claim

Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been criticised for figures she used when highlighting how much mortgage borrowers are set to see their costs rise by under the Tory Government.

In Parliament over recent weeks, Reeves has claimed that “average mortgage payments “will be increasing by “£2,900 this year.”

She repeated this again, saying “millions” of homeowners “face an average increase in mortgage costs of £2,900 this year.”

While mortgage costs are rising,  Full Fact -a charity fighting bad information through fact checking and campaigning – has highlighted that she is misquoting research from the Resolution Foundation.

Full Fact said: “The think tank’s £2,900 figure is actually an estimate of the average annual increase in repayments for households who remortgage in 2024 after their current fixed-rate mortgage deal expires. 

“It’s not an ‘average’ across all mortgages, or an estimate for ‘this year.’

“This estimate does not consider how payments may change for the millions of mortgage holders with fixed-rate mortgages which expire in a different year, or those on variable-rate or tracker mortgages.”

Full Fact said it asked Labour about Reeves’ comments but didn’t get a response.

The charity has previously criticised Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for stating that the UK is building record numbers of homes.

Full Fact said: “Using statistics without appropriate context and caveats can damage public trust in both the statistics and politicians. 

“MPs should use data transparently and with all relevant context and caveats when a claim is first made, and quickly rectify oversights when they occur.”