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Government kicked out by debt voters

debt-politics

That could have been the headline the morning after the 2015 general election had people with debt problems decided to vote together. MPs voted in by people with debt problems could now be holding the balance of power in the UK Parliament.

Figures released by the Insolvency Service (15 November 2016) show that there were more people with debt problems than the size of the majority in 20 constituencies. This might have overturned the government’s majority of 14. In 66 constituencies people in debt represented more than one in four of the majority.

People with debt problems could be holding the balance of power in the UK Parliament.

In 182 of the 573 constituencies in England and Wales voters with debt issues represented more than one in ten of the majority. And, this is likely to be an underestimate.

We think that if people with debt problems got together a lot of MPs would have to sit up and take notice.

The Insolvency Service figures relate only to England and Wales. So the political power of people in debt could be even greater if Scotland were included.

We’ve always thought that people in debt should have a greater political voice than they do. These figures show that a consumer debt lobby could wield real political influence. There are clearly some MPs who should be taking the concerns of people in debt very seriously.

The top twenty Parliamentary Constituencies

In three constituencies MPs could be kicked out just by the voters who are in personal insolvency procedures. They are Gower (Con, Byron Davies), Derby North, (Con, Amanda Solloway) and City of Chester (Lab, Chris Matheson). All three changed party in 2015, showing just how important the indebted vote could be.

The 20 seats where people in debt voting together would have determined the result are:

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RankConstituency NameRegionMPPartyMajorityEstimated voters in debtdebtors as % of majoritySeat changed?
1GowerWalesByron DaviesConservative275101889%Conservative gain from Labour
2Derby NorthEast MidlandsAmanda SollowayConservative416301537%Conservative gain from Labour
3City of ChesterNorth WestChris MathesonLabour93850914%Labour gain from Conservative
4Croydon CentralLondonGavin BarwellConservative165615373%
5Vale of ClwydWalesJames DaviesConservative237805340%Conservative gain from Labour
6Ynys MônWalesAlbert OwenLabour229625273%
7Plymouth, Sutton and DevonportSouth WestOliver ColvilleConservative5231325253%
8HalifaxYorkshire and The HumberHolly Walker-LynchLabour428900210%
9Bury NorthNorth WestDavid NuttallConservative378665176%
10Ealing Central and ActonLondonRupa HuqLabour274465170%Labour gain from Conservative
11Plymouth, Moor ViewSouth WestJohnny MercerConservative10261475144%Conservative gain from Labour
12EastbourneSouth EastCaroline AnsellConservative7331025140%Conservative gain from Liberal Democrat
13Newcastle-under-LymeWest MidlandsPaul FarrellyLabour650905139%
14TelfordWest MidlandsLucy AllenConservative730975134%Conservative gain from Labour
15ThurrockEast of EnglandJackie Doyle-PriceConservative536695130%
16Morley and OutwoodYorkshire and The HumberAndrea JenkynsConservative422515122%Conservative gain from Labour
17Wirral WestNorth WestMargaret GreenwoodLabour417500120%Labour gain from Conservative
18CambridgeEast of EnglandDaniel ZeichnerLabour599705118%Labour gain from Liberal Democrat
19Brentford and IsleworthLondonRuth CadburyLabour465535115%Labour gain from Conservative
20Brighton, KemptownSouth EastSimon KirbyConservative690690100%

Parliamentary data from www.britishelectionstudy.com

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We aren’t saying that politicians don’t see personal debt as an important issue – just that these figures show that an empowered debt lobby could have the influence needed to change things faster.

Debt Wish

If we had one issue we’d like to campaign on it would be debt rehab. We think that people who do their best to repay debt in IVAs and debt management plans should be rewarded with improved credit scores. Why? Because it’s hard dealing with debt!

Dealing with debt successfully gives you money skills. And because people who repay all they can afford should be seen as capable consumers of financial products.

What would be your debt demand for your MP? Leave us a comment.

How we did this

We worked this out by comparing the Insolvency Service’s figures for the number of people in Individual Voluntary Arrangements, Debt Relief Orders or Bankruptcy in each constituency with the majorities in the 2015 General election.

The Money Advice Service has done research that shows that less than one in five of those people who have debt problems are doing anything about it. So, to get our “top twenty” we multiplied the figure for personal insolvencies in each seat by five. This is likely to be an underestimate because our base figure doesn’t include people in debt management plans.

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