371 families lost homes in Guildford in 2007

10.39.00am GMT Fri 15th Feb 2008

Too many families in Guildford are losing their homes because of difficulties over mortgage payments, claims Sue Doughty.

New figures show that 371 orders for home repossession were issued by Guildford County Court in 2007. Although this represents a fall in the number of orders since 2006, the current figure may be masking a bigger problem to come. In fact the overall figures, recently published, show a marked increase in the number of home repossessions, up 28% since 2006 and the highest figure since 1998.

"Many people remember the boom and bust policies of the last Conservative government that saw tens of thousands of people lose their home because they could not keep up with mortgage payments", said Sue Doughty.

"Now it looks as though the current Labour Government has blundered into a similar mess. The Government has failed to ensure there are enough homes to meet people's needs. For every ten families on the waiting list in England for social housing in 1997, when Labour came to power, there are now sixteen.

"In 2007, 1,459 families in Surrey paid the price for growing economic incompetence by Gordon Brown. There are now serious concerns that in 2008, the situation will get worse."