Stubbornly high inflation is being baked into the UK economy by Rishi Sunak’s government – Jackie Baillie

Tory and SNP incompetence is creating a ticking debt timebomb with mortgage-holders facing increases of hundreds of pounds a month in their repayments

The holiday season is upon us, but there will be no escape from the Tory mortgage bombshell hitting Scotland. Some 546,600 Scots are facing a painful squeeze on their budgets and have to re-adjust their outgoings following interest rates rising for the 13th time in June.

Homeowners across the country are living on “negative budgets” where their income no longer meets their basic costs because of rapidly rising interest rates. The stubborn inflation which the Tories are baking into the economy is storing up huge problems.

The average household is facing an increase of £190 a month as they see mortgage renewal deals melt in the midday drizzle (forgive me but this is summer in Scotland). Like the weather forecast, the regional figures aren’t any prettier. In Edinburgh, 51,700 homes remortgaging next year will pay an average of £280 more a month; for 51,700 homes in the same situation in Glasgow City, the figure is £180; in Aberdeenshire, it’s £210 more for 29,500 homes; and in Dundee, £150 a month extra for 14,800.

The increase is a direct result of the disastrous mishandling of the economy by the merry-go-round of Tory Prime Ministers, from Johnson through Liz Truss to Rishi Sunak. And there has been little action from the shambolic, distracted SNP to help those facing the cost-of-living crisis.

At every level of government, Labour has a plan to ensure everyone can have a safe, secure, affordable home. While the Tories simply appeal to the better nature of banks and lenders, Labour’s plans to protect mortgage-holders would be compulsory. We would instruct the regulator to require all lenders to bring in measures allowing borrowers running into trouble to switch to interest-only mortgage payments for a temporary period or to lengthen their mortgage period.

By failing to make its own measures mandatory, the Tories are failing households which could miss out on the mortgage support they need. The SNP’s dogged refusal to use the powers they have and adopt Scottish Labour’s plans for a mortgage-rescue scheme only makes a bad situation worse.

Last November Scottish Labour set out how we could use devolved powers to deliver an expanded mortgage-rescue scheme. It involves offering struggling mortgage-payers a shared ownership scheme which means they would not lose their homes unnecessarily. The plans are not complicated and simply need the political will to enact them to provide a safety net.

High interest rates, designed to tackle inflation, are creating serious problems in the housing market (Picture: Isabel Infantes/AFP via Getty Images)

Citizens Advice report that the number of people it’s seeing who can no longer afford the property they are living in has doubled in a year. The cost-of-living crisis is becoming a debt crisis with people in trouble with mortgages and rents. We need to use the powers we have here in Scotland to help people but the SNP have done nothing but promise a review of Labour’s proposals.

This is all happening as one-in-four Scots face eye-watering council tax hikes on property bands E to H under SNP plans and the number of new affordable new homes approved to be built has halved in just three years.

This is creating a ticking debt timebomb. When families struggle to make ends meet, our governments should be making lives easier, not harder. The SNP and the Tories cannot stand aside while their problems spiral out of control.

Jackie Baillie MSP is Scottish Labour’s deputy leader