Hammond faces four MPs’ questions on loan charge 2019

Four MP have tabled questions to Philip Hammond about the 2019 loan charge, in what campaigners hope could bring a change in the government’s approach.

Awaiting the chancellor’s reply tomorrow are Dr Paul Williams and Jim Cunningham of the Labour party, Christine Jardine MP of the Lib Dems, and independent MP Ivan Lewis.

Two of the MPs will probe what steps Mr Hammond is taking to support people affected by the charge, which came into force last month and affects loans as far back as 20 years ago.

The other two MPs, Ms Jardine and Mr Cunningham, will ask the chancellor if he will make a statement on the charge and, respectively, whether he will extend the payment deadline.

Welcoming the fact that the MP quartet will quiz Mr Hammond about the charge, the Loan Charge APPG called the opportunity at tomorrow’s oral questions session “extraordinary.”

Having thanked each of the MPs in advance on Twitter, the APPG added a question: “What will it take for Mel Stride MP and Philip Hammond MP to finally listen and act?”

Although Mr Stride is not the target of the MPs’ questions, the group likely mentioned him because he last week used a slot on the BBC to reinforce the government’s position.

In particular, the Treasury minister said that while it was a “great pity” to him that people were “distressed” by the charge, what they did was “not right” as a matter of principle.

Appearing on BBC Politics Live, Mr Stride also said “it’s a myth” that the government has not pursued employers, or others -- like advisers, who forced workers into loan schemes.

The minister restated the HMRC policy of affected customers not being “required to sell their primary residence” to pay the charge, and said making them bankrupt was not the “intention.”

In a move that will frustrate campaigners, Mr Stride denied the charge was retrospective, contrary to findings by LCAG, the Loan Charge APPG and a House of Lords enquiry.