Shapps warns Mortgage Rescue Scheme is "a sham"

New figures have revealed that while 3,000 families approached Local Authorities for help from the Government’s Mortgage Rescue Scheme between January and March, only one family actually received assistance.

The scheme, announced in September, was meant to help 6,000 families over the next two years – but at the current rate just 8 families will benefit.

Meanwhile, since the scheme launched in January an estimated 15,000 families have had their homes repossessed.

Grant Shapps, the Shadow Housing Minister, said the “shocking” figures showed Labour’s Mortgage Rescue Scheme had been “a sham”:

“Gordon Brown has to realise that people will not be fooled by schemes that grab headlines and nothing else. He got us into this mess and he needs to help ordinary families through it.”