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Courtesy Guardian.................
Vince Cable to accuse Tories of blocking plan to build more council homes
Lib Dem business secretary will say 'Tory dogma' is obstructing proposal to let councils borrow
more to spend on new houses
Vince Cable, the business secretary, will accuse his Tory coalition partners of blocking a
Liberal Democrat plan to allow more council homes to be built through a relaxation of local
authority borrowing rules.
The Lib Dems believe that councils could build up to 25,000 homes if they were allowed
to pool their borrowing limits, releasing up to £2.8bn.
In a speech to the Social Liberal Forum in Manchester on Saturday, Cable will say this plan
"opens up the possibility of sensible public borrowing to revive the depressed construction
industry and to meet desperate housing need".
But the Lib Dems are being blocked by "Tory dogma", he will say.
"The Tories are hiding behind Treasury methodology, saying that more borrowing by councils
beyond permitted limits will break the fixed rules.
"So even though freeing up this borrowing space would result in tens of thousands more homes
being built, and many times more jobs, they would rather start talking about the cuts they want
to make, rather than the houses that we should build."
In his speech, Cable will also appear to express doubts about George Osborne's Help to Buy
scheme, which involves the government using loans and guarantees to help people buy houses.
He will say that easier credit is in danger of pushing up house prices, "making them still less
affordable to the ordinary first-time buyer"