Rebecca Long-Bailey MP, Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, commenting on reports that the Help to Buy ISA scheme does not let first-time buyers use the savings for a deposit, said:

“Today’s reports that the Tory’s much vaunted ‘Help to Buy ISA’ cannot be used to pay for a deposit is a disgrace. People up and down the country are struggling to buy their first home and are being let down by the Government’s failure to act.

“Once again the Tories are failing generation rent with empty promises. It is typical of the Tories to design a scheme that doesn’t help working people get on the housing ladder but instead only provides a little perk to those that can already afford it.

“The Tory Government’s failure to address the housing crisis is astonishing. In the last Parliament fewer new homes were built than under any previous peacetime government since the 1920s. It doesn’t matter which Tory Chancellor is in Number 11 -; it’s clear the Conservative Party’s economic approach has failed.

“The country needs a different plan that will end austerity, and start to invest in the  housing and infrastructure Britain needs. That’s why Labour would invest £500 billion, and establish a National Investment Bank and a network of regional banks, to rebuild and transform our economy so no one and no community is left behind.”

@RLong_Bailey