Government Hides Risks Of Controversial Help to Buy Scheme

Ministers are refusing to publish the Government’s own risk assessment into its flagship housing policy, triggering suspicions that they are trying to cover up official warnings that the scheme will endanger the British economy.  A string of independent housing experts have publicly warned that Help to Buy will overheat the housing market and “detonate a bomb” under the British economy. Ministers have refused for months to say if any official risk assessment has taken place, insisting only that the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) was responsible for housing forecasts. Yet in a Freedom of Information (FOI) response to the Shadow Local Government Secretary, Hilary Benn, officials have revealed that the Government does indeed hold details of a risk assessment into Help to Buy, but that publication has been blocked by ministerial veto. The risk assessment was carried out before the policy was announced in March, meaning that the Chancellor ignored any warnings in it.  Read more on the Independent website.