Ed Balls: Help to Buy will squeeze out first-time buyers

In a speech at the Labour party conference, Balls joined Liberal Democrat business secretary Vince Cable and former Bank of England governor Mervyn King in criticising Chancellor George Osborne's flagship scheme. Balls said the government must take immediate steps to increase the supply of housing in the UK or the scheme would price first-time buyers out of the market completely. "We are right to be concerned that the government is boosting housing demand - with a taxpayer mortgage guarantee on houses of up to £600,000 - while doing nothing about the supply of housing which has fallen...