Government called on to ‘stop the debt spiral’

The government has been called upon to take action that would help British consumers avoid seeing their debt management problems spiral out of control.

Vince Cable, economic spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, is convinced that prime minister Gordon Brown and his cabinet need to “ease the tax burden”, which he cites as a significant cause of financial pressures for many families.

The lower paid sectors of society have been squeezed particularly hard as a result of the tax regime and for many this has led to an unbreakable cycle of debt, Mr Cable has suggested.

He said: “The government’s tax grab has only served to exacerbate our mounting economic problems.

“Ministers must now act to ease the tax burden on the lower paid and intervene to ensure that spiralling debt costs do not lead to a recession.”

Neil Munroe, external affairs director for Equifax, recently claimed that more British consumers will be forced to use high-rate loans to fund their activities because of the reluctance among lenders to offer less expensive deals.