Peter Helm

Owning a home is FAR more difficult for young men and women today than it was for my generation. That’s just a fact. Average earnings have not kept pace with average house prices - to suggest otherwise is ignorant. The gap has grown at an astronomical rate. The young have every right to feel pissed off, I’m angry for them. And I detest this patronising attitude of people my age that we just happened to manage it all so much better through ‘common sense’ and fewer avocados. There are millions of young Brits who work hard, take care of their money and dedicate themselves - and yes, they are struggling to find a proper home. They have done nothing wrong. In fact, they’ve done everything right but the system still failed them. I am ensuring that there is a political party to finally represent them - Restore Britain is that party. A party that supports the aspirational and committed young British men and women. Scrapping interest on student loans. Stripping back the power of empire-building planning bureaucrats who cruelly prevent sensible house-building in fair locations. Crushing the overbearing regulations that make building anything so very cumbersome. Overhauling leasehold rules which trap owners with mutating service charges. Ending the vindictive war on landlords to make sustainably renting a proper option. Slashing tax to hand back financial control. Entirely abolishing stamp duty for Brits. Because we will not tinker with the status quo, we will not conserve it, we will not reform it. We will fundamentally change how this country operates. The model must break. I will make you one promise. Restore Britain will break it.

I opened the boomer discourse can of worms. My replies are like a Hillbrow whorehouse on a public holiday!!

When I married in 1981 we both worked & most of our salary went on paying the mortgage as the interest rate was 15% at the time. Everything we owned was 2nd hand & we never went out for meals as we couldn’t afford to. We rented our TV Went to the launderette every weekend as had no washing machine. Only had new clothes at Xmas & birthdays as presents. We went without until we could save enough to pay for something. It’s always been hard whether you are young or old. So those out there that think we had it easy we didn’t. Our governments are to blame, not the old.

You got significant tax relief on your mortgage payment through (MIRAS) in the 80s and 90s on a property which was far cheaper than homes today.

No. I don’t think pensioners should have to sell their houses to retire