Support Grows for MP's Loan Sharks Campaign

100 backbench MPs from all political parties have supported John Battle's House of Commons motion against loan sharks - including Leeds MPs Harold Best and Colin Challen.

"Britain has played an leading role in working to cancel international debt, and we have a wonderful campaign on that here in Leeds, said John Battle, Labour MP for Leeds West. "But we also need to deal with debt on our doorstep."

"Most people borrow money at some time in their lives, for example with credit cards and mortgages, and it shouldn't be a problem. But poorer people sometimes have to borrow small amounts just to cover the basics and find most lenders unwilling to give credit - so they are often faced with unscrupulous companies or loan sharks offering extortionate rates of interest.

It's a classic part of the "two-speed economy" that I've been glad to see highlighted in the YEP recently. I saw a flyer a constituent had had through their door last week offering loans which worked out at 425% APR - compared to the 12% or so that a high street lender might offer.

"I am calling on the Government to clamp down on loan sharks, and to reform the Social Fund to make it easier for people in need to get loans to cover a crisis.

"Another part of the answer is credit unions - I'm a member of Bramley Credit Union, I save money with them each month and it's there for people in my neighbourhood to borrow at a fair rate, even if the banks would turn them down. Credit unions have taken off in Leeds in the recent past. A real Government boost to get credit unions more established and to address the financial exclusion of those struggling on a low income is now needed.

"In other words, if the most vulnerable people in our society had better access to affordable credit and savings, they'd be much less vulnerable to loan sharks."

Mr Battle welcomed a mass lobby of Parliament earlier this month by Debt on Our Doorstep, a coalition of charities including Oxfam and Church Action on Poverty.