Ian today added his name to a cross-party initiative calling on the Government to give MPs the chance to vote on capping the cost of credit in the high-interest lending market.

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Speaking before a meeting of the Backbench Business Committee, which will decide whether the vote will go before Parliament, Ian said:

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“I’m joining other MPs from across the House in saying that it’s time for action to tackle the problems caused by legal loan sharking. We want Parliament to have a vote on capping the total cost of borrowing, in order to protect the poorest consumers in xx and around the country. Communities across Britain, including Edinburgh South, are being targeted by unscrupulous lenders who are legally allowed to charge whatever they want for credit. The case for introducing caps on the total cost of credit is now unanswerable -; that’s why we are determined that Parliament should have its say on the matter.”

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Ian is one of a growing group of cross-party backbench MPs supporting attempts to regulate high-interest unsecured lending, and the Consumer Credit (Regulation and Advice) Bill to become law. This initiative has been led by Labour MPs concerned that the government’s Consumer Credit Review was focused only on regulating credit and store cards, and not payday, doorstep and hire purchase lending.