Opinion: There is a timebomb ready to go off in Peterborough as mortgages rise, writes Dennis Jones, Labour Group leader

With interest rates predicted to be at 6%, or higher by the New Year, families in Peterborough could see their interest rate triple over the coming months.

Last autumn, virtually every household faced spiralling energy costs to such an extent that the government had to step in and cap energy prices.

Those of us volunteering at local food banks were being asked to provide food that didn’t need heating up or took very little preparation.

Energy bills that were in the hundreds of pounds a year were now in the thousands and we all feared for a cold winter.

Now, the mortgage crisis will affect millions of homeowners, many of them in the more affluent areas of the city and the bills they face will “dwarf the energy bill crisis” for many middle-income earners.

Meanwhile, you may recall that our administration decided to lend £15m of our city’s money to a company calling themselves ‘Propiteer’, a cross between ‘puppet’ and ‘profiteer’, one winces slightly at our ever getting the money back.

Perhaps someone should have a word with their marketing department.

The Conservative cabinet member for finance, a personable chap called Andy Coles, told us earlier this year that the loan will be repaid in full by July.

After ‘Propiteer’ played the Covid card once again, we are now told that the loan has now been extended until December of this year.

I don’t doubt that we are receiving decent interest on the loan to build the much-delayed Hilton Garden Court hotel.

But it begs two questions. Why is the city council, which is not a professional money lender, making loans of this nature in the first place?

The second is, if your mortgage is ending, will your lender say: “Oh, it’s OK. Just pay the interest and pay off the capital when you can”.

Go on. Call into your bank or building society and ask them if that will be OK when you can see the interest on your mortgage about to double or treble as your fixed rate deal ends.

Let me save you the bother.

The answer will be a firm, hopefully polite, no. Repossessions are likely to go through the roof as hard-working, middle-income earners struggle with spiralling interest payments that national government is failing to get a grip on – by the admission of some of their own MPs.

We are likely to see big developers pick up property at bargain prices in a recession as people become desperate to sell.

What’s next? ‘webuyanyhouse.com’?