Nats throw first-time buyers a £60m lifeline
Alex Salmond yesterday pledged £60million of help for first-time buyers as he savaged Gordon Brown’s stewardship of the economy.
He accused the Prime Minister of being one of the architects of the current financial crisis and promised a cash bonanza to enable young hopefuls to clamber onto the housing ladder.[>
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In his keynote speech closing the SNP’s annual conference in Perth he also called for the Lloyds TSB takeover of Halifax Bank of Scotland to be frozen. [>
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The First Minister said the deal must be blocked while important questions were answered. [>
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Mr Salmond said that four weeks ago the Lloyds TSB takeover was the only game in town but circumstances had changed after the UK Government’s £50billion bank bail-out.[>
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He said the SNP were working to protect the economy as he announced the increase in the Scottish Government’s shared equity programme by 150 per cent – up from £24million last year.[>
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He said: “In these difficult economic times, we are doing all we can to help families, households and businesses.[>
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“This will help not just first-time buyers but also families currently struggling to sell their homes.[>
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“It will provide much-needed demand in the housing sector.”[>
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The scheme allows home buyers to pay for between 60 per cent and 80 per cent of a property with the Government taking on the rest, without any annual charge.[>
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The Government would take back its proportion of the money when the property is sold on.[>
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The £60million will be made available in 2009-10 following the earlier £24million pilot scheme.[>
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It will cover all 32 Scottish local councils instead of the original 10 in the pilot and help about 1,500 low-income households wanting to buy.[>
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Mr Salmond went on to reissue demands to know whether the bank bail-out was dependent on the Lloyds TSB and HBOS merger going ahead. [>
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He said: “If the future of HBOS has indeed been secured then are we not entitled to ensure that any merger is in the public interest – that the public won’t end up paying for the merger, paying for lost jobs and then paying for the restriction of competition. [>
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“Until these questions are satisfactorily answered then there must be no merger. [>
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“The Bank of Scotland has been around for 300 years. It is hard-wired into the social and economic fabric of Scotland. It does not deserve to be cast aside as a consequence of the age of irresponsibility.” [>
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Later in his address, the First Minister attacked Mr Brown as he told delegates: “Brown’s Labour bust threatens to break records – and has almost broken our banking system. [>
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“Under his watch our greatest company had to be rescued and saddled with 12 per cent preference shares. [>
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“And our oldest bank is threatened with disappearing as an independent force. [>
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“And the Prime Minister thinks this is an advert for the Union? [>
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“I would have thought that the condition of the economy, the fears of our people, the state of the financial sector, are a staggering condemnation of the state of the United Kingdom.” [>
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Mr Salmond said the Prime Minister had acted irresponsibly by proposing billions of pounds be spent on renewing nuclear weapons in Scotland and by keeping troops in Iraq. [>
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Following Mr Salmond’s speech, HBOS insisted that the merger with Lloyds TSB should still go ahead as it was in the best interests of both the bank and Scotland. [>
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A UK Government spokes-man echoed that view, saying that Mr Salmond had “missed the point”.[>
