Mortgage payments hike for thousands in run-up to vote

Lib Dems warn of a 'blue wall reckoning' for prime minister

- KATE DEVLIN

An extra 100,000 families will be stung by a mortgage hike between now and polling day, new figures show.

More than 3,300 households a day will see their payments rise significantly before 4 July, and the average homeowner will have to fork out £240 a month more, or nearly £3,000 a year.

The Liberal Democrats, who obtained the figures, warned Rishi Sunak that he faces a “blue wall reckoning” with mortgage holders in what were previously solid Tory seats at this election. The data shows constituencies such as North East Cambridgeshire – held by cabinet minister Steve Barclay – are among the worst affected, with hundreds due to see their fixedrate mortgage end in June.

Liberal Democrat treasury spokesperson Sarah Olney said the Conservative government had crashed the economy “and now they are condemning hard-working households to a mortgage nightmare”.