How did we choose the questions?

As with our previous MSE Leaders' Debates, we wanted to know what YOU wanted to ask party leaders about their policies and how they affect the pound in your pocket. We ran a survey, which we publicised in our weekly email, on the MSE Forum and on social media, and we received about 3,000 questions to consider. After going through them all, we shortlisted the most common ones. Martin then chose the final questions, and added some of his own on issues that we campaign on. In some cases, we also added some powerful case studies who agreed for us to use their comments.

How have we ordered the party leaders on the page?

We ordered the party leaders by the number of seats their party had in the UK Parliament, just before the last Parliament was dissolved. Where parties had the same number of seats (Green Party and Reform UK), we have put them in alphabetical order.

Is MSE politically independent?

MSE and Martin Lewis do not support or endorse any political party and we are very careful to remain independent at all times.

MSE News

General Election 2024: The MSE Leaders' Debate

Sunak, Starmer, Swinney, Davey, ap Iorwerth, Ramsay and Farage tell us what they'd do about energy bills, council tax, Carer's Allowance and more

25 June 2024

"In an election, real-world policies are often lost in the smog of debate. So in 2010, I started a 'leaders' debate' here on MSE, and we've done it for every general election since. The aim is to try to get clarity on the practical policies impacting consumer finance. You suggested thousands of questions – we then chose the most common, plus some that MSE and I campaign on.

"All party leaders were sent identical questions. Part of this is simply about ensuring these issues are put under the leaders' noses – so whomever wins can't pretend they don't know about them, and we've their promises on record. The fact it's in writing means you know if they've not answered something, the omission is likely to be deliberate – telling in itself. Welcome to the MSE Leaders' Debate 2024…"

– Martin Lewis, MoneySavingExpert.com founder

You can read the debate in two ways

View topic-by-topic. All the leaders' answers on one topic, next to each other.

Leader-by-leader, including a VIDEO from each. One leader's view on all topics.

You can also read about how we ran this year's debate.

Full topic-by-topic answers

We asked:

What will you do about energy bills? Including...

Q You pay £330 a year in standing charges even before you use any energy. What will you do to bring them down?
Q Consumer energy bills are still significantly higher than what they were before the energy crisis. What will you do to lower them?
Q Will you introduce a social tariff for the vulnerable?
Q How will you help people to make their homes more efficient?

Click to read all their answers

We are committed to helping consumers with their energy bills and have taken the action needed to protect them from external shocks in recent years.

Ofgem, the energy regulator, is currently considering next steps on standing charge and we have made clear to Ofgem that standing charges must be fairer and kept as low as possible.

Energy bills are down 63% since their peak, and we will continue to bear down on prices through our energy price cap, which prevents you from being overcharged. We'll make sure you have a choice of smart energy tariffs, which can save you £900 a year, and introduce local markets for electricity which will save households £20 to £45 a year and speed up grid connections, saving another £15 to £25.

A social tariff is fundamentally about supporting the most vulnerable with the cost of energy and this is what we have delivered. Between 2022-25 we are delivering a package of support worth £108 billion, or £3,800 per household on average.

Our Warm Home Discount scheme provides three million households – people who have low incomes and live in homes that are costly to heat – with £150 towards their energy bills every year.

When it comes to efficiency, almost half of homes in England are now energy efficiency Band C, up from just one in seven in 2010. We will invest £6 billion in energy efficiency over the next three years to make around a million homes warmer. And we will fund an energy efficiency voucher scheme, open to every household in England, to support the installation of energy efficiency measures and solar panels, helping families lower their bills.

The British people are paying the price of 14 years of economic chaos under the Conservatives. The choice at this general election is clear: higher bills and energy insecurity with the Conservatives, or lower bills and energy independence with Labour.

Our plan to switch on Great British Energy will take back control of our destiny and invest in cheap, clean homegrown energy that we control. Funded by asking the big oil and gas companies to pay their fair share through a proper windfall tax, so the proceeds can be invested in the future of the country.

For those struggling to make ends meet, we'll stop the scandal of expensive pre-payment meters being forced on vulnerable people, and we'll work with the energy regulator to reduce the standing charges that hit poorer households.

And we'll launch a Warm Homes Plan – spending an additional £6.6bn to upgrade Britain's homes, cut energy bills and boost jobs across the country.

Households across the UK have been hammered with soaring energy bills as a result of the Tory cost of living crisis. They deserve real action to support them.

Where we can, the SNP is taking action with the limited powers of devolution to help people struggling.

For example, the SNP Scottish Government replaced the UK government's Cold Weather Payment, which was only paid if cold enough for long enough, with a Low Income Winter Heating payment so that everyone on low income benefits gets an annual payment every winter no matter. We also introduced a Child Winter Heating Payment to support families with severely disabled children. That's the sort of action that hasn't been seen under the Tories, and won't be under Labour either. It meant that in winter 2023/24 £30 million worth of support to over 400,000 households who needed it most.

As a government, we also continue to offer the most generous package of funding in the UK for households to transition to clean heating systems.

At Westminster, the SNP is calling for a statutory social tariff for energy, broadband and mobile charges for all who need one, and press for a significant cut in standing charges for all and removal of standing charges for anyone with a prepayment meter – issues reserved to Westminster.

SNP MPs will also call for a combination of the Warm Home Discount and Energy Company Obligation to create a single, flexible fuel poverty scheme in Scotland – one that better reflects our definition of fuel poverty and supports our most vulnerable.

Additionally, the SNP is demanding the UK government introduce a fair energy pricing and rebate scheme for Highland and Islands residents, offering financial relief and offsetting the higher per-unit costs of electricity those residents currently face.

While bills are falling, they are still at some of their highest levels for years. The next government needs to act to bring bills down.

That's why Liberal Democrats have pledged to launch an emergency Home Energy Upgrade programme, starting with free insulation and heat pumps for low-income households and a central role for local authorities in delivering this programme, as well as a rooftop solar revolution to bring down bills for consumers.

We have also pledged to decouple electricity prices from the wholesale gas price and eliminate unfair regional differences in domestic energy bills.

We would also introduce a social tariff for energy and water bills to provide targeted discounts for vulnerable households.

The increase in energy bills in recent years has hugely affected households across the country, through rises in the price cap. The privatised energy market has patently failed. There is no good reason why households in Wales, which produces more energy than it uses, have higher standing charges than in England. We would look to reduce these charges, saving money for all households.

We want to see the introduction of a social tariff for energy. Although prices are expected to fall during the summer, when energy use is lower, it is anticipated to rise again in the autumn and winter.

Plaid Cymru would devolve the responsibilities of Ofgem to regulate the design of whole-systems energy grids and markets which serve Wales, while aligning with emerging UK, European and global standards. As part of this work, we would establish a Welsh energy systems operator.

We support a long-term plan for retrofitting existing properties that would make them more energy efficient, thereby reducing costs and carbon emissions. This will require government support, particularly while households are in such economically challenging circumstances, and requires investment and commitment to developing a skilled workforce capable of delivering this programme of works across the country.

1) We would like to ensure that the price people pay is more closely connected to their energy use, to create an incentive to be efficient with energy. Over time we would look to absorb the cost of the standing charge into overall bills.

2) By investing in energy efficiency to reduce the loss of heat, we can help everyone live in a warmer home and lower their bills: the cheapest bill is the one you don’t have to pay. We are offering a large-scale programme of free home insulation. This will keep people warm, use less energy to heat homes and so insulate them against higher energy bills. We will also give tenants the right to require their landlords to insulate their homes. We are proposing installing home heating systems that do not use fossil fuels, especially heat-pumps, and to invest in electricity from renewables, insulating the country against global shocks to energy prices.

3) The Green Party would not want to reduce the price of energy. We will bring the big six energy companies into public ownership and prevent any repeat of the windfall profits we saw following the war in Ukraine. We are focused on addressing poverty through measures such as a £40 uplift in Universal Credit, a £15 minimum wage and rent caps. Above all we will reduce bills through a £29bn insulation programme focused on social housing and people on low incomes. We want to equip those on low incomes to be able to pay bills without subsidising energy prices.

4) Most people's energy bills are unnecessarily high because the UK has the worst insulated homes in Europe. We are proposing to invest £29bn over the next five years to insulate homes to EPC B standard or above, as part of a 10-year programme. £11bn of this will be to retrofit the social housing stock and £17bn as grants to retrofit privately owned homes to a similar standard. We would introduce a local authority-led, street-by-street or area-based retrofit programme to insulate our homes, to provide non-fossil-fuel heat and start to adapt our buildings to the more extreme weather.

1) Reform UK will lower energy bills as a whole by scrapping Net Zero policies that are costing Britain as much as £30bn per year.

2) Reform UK will scrap renewable energy subsidies and VAT on energy bills, as well as ending all environmental levies on consumers. This will save households over £500 per year.

3) Scrapping needless charges and making work pay by lowering taxes is the best route to affordable, secure energy for all. That is what Reform UK will deliver.

4) We don’t believe in the government lecturing citizens on how they should lead their lives. Reform UK will put money back into consumers’ pockets for them to spend as they wish.

We asked:

What will you do to help renters – some of the hardest hit by recent inflation? Including...

Q Will you finally end Section 21 'no-fault' evictions, which prevent some renters from challenging rent rises and complaining about conditions in their homes?
Q How will you protect renters from poor living standards?

Read all their answers
To support renters, we will pass a Renters Reform Bill that will deliver fairness in the rental market for landlords and renters alike. We will deliver the court reforms necessary to fully abolish Section 21 and strengthen other grounds for landlords to evict private tenants guilty of anti-social behaviour.

We are also cracking down on rogue landlords to protect renters and our Renters Reform Bill will, for the first time, legislate for a decent homes standard in the private rented sector.

I know the cost-of-living crisis has really hit renters, with failure to build enough homes over 14 years meaning renting is often unaffordable and expensive.

To add to this, the government has shamefully failed to properly regulate the centre, leaving renters exposed to arbitrary eviction, poor quality homes and rip-off practices like bidding wars.

That’s why I’m saying no ifs, no buts – Labour will immediately ban no-fault evictions so that families have the security of knowing that landlords can’t kick them out for no reason. And we’ll pass strong new laws to level the playing field between landlords and tenants.

A crackdown is overdue on the unscrupulous landlords that rip off tenants with extortionate rents and poor-quality living conditions. That’s what Labour is determined to deliver.

On rents, we’ll end rental bidding wars, so landlords can no longer pit hopeful renters against each other in a fight to see who can offer up a bigger sum. Labour will also end massive upfront payments, by capping the amount of rent requested upfront, forcing renters to turn to the bank of mum and dad just to get into the rental market.

Finally, we’ll put power back in tenants’ hands so that they can challenge unreasonable rent hikes. We’ll let tenants recover costs in courts when their landlord increases their rent without issuing an official notice. We'll also give tenants a minimum of two months to terminate their contract in cases when a landlord increases rent disproportionately. And we’ll go further to ensure that tenants who take an unfair rent rise to court won’t see the increase after the court has ruled.

For those living in lurid living conditions, we’ll tackle the respiratory and other health problems renters are suffering by stamping out black mould, damp and cold with new legal protections for tenants. Importantly, we’ll give every renter the same protection from damp, cold and mould by extending laws to private renters.

The cost-of-living crisis is still being felt by so many families. That’s why we’ll slash fuel poverty and cut energy bills, saving the average tenant £250 per year, by requiring all landlords to meet stringent energy efficiency standards by 2030.

The bottom line is that there are not enough homes in our country. Under the Tories, housing supply is collapsing and planning permissions are at record lows. The dream of home ownership has all but been killed off.

Labour is promising 1.5 million new build homes in the next parliament and new schemes to unlock the dream of homeownership. We’ll give first-time buyers ‘first dibs’ on new developments in their communities, with a comprehensive mortgage guarantee scheme for those who struggle to save for a large deposit.

The SNP is committed to supporting tenants.

Some time ago, in 2017, the SNP Scottish Government introduced new tenancy rights in Scotland so there are no fault evictions. This means rents can only rise once a year with three months notice and there is mandatory registration of letting agents.

Meanwhile the Tories failed to take action – breaking promise after promise – and Labour are still not promising enough to support tenants today.

It's also the SNP Scottish Government, which introduced a temporary rent cap and eviction ban in 2022 to support people through the Westminster-made cost of living crisis.

At Westminster, the SNP has consistently pressed the UK Government to do likewise in England, recognising the heavy toll such evictions take on renters across the UK.

The SNP is committed to ensuring that renters in Scotland can live in safe and good quality homes. In Scotland, the ‘Repairing Standard’ is enshrined in law, setting the standard which accommodation for private rent must be kept to.

The SNP Scottish Government made sure that renters aren’t paying the price for poorly insulated homes – we have ensured, in law, that properties for private rent in Scotland must have an EPC rating of D or higher. This means warmer homes and lower bills for renters.

We are continuing to support renters where we can, which is why we are currently taking new legislation through parliament to establish a long-term system of rent controls in the private rented sector and new prevention of homelessness duties

Unlike the Tories and Labour, the SNP in Westminster will continue to call for the scrapping of the abhorrent bedroom tax, the benefit cap, and the two child cap which all impact on renting households and to bring the local housing allowance up to a standard which matches rents.

Despite the challenges of UK austerity on the SNP Scottish Government’s budget, the SNP Scottish Government has made sure no one in Scotland has to pay for the Tory bedroom tax since 2013. We are spending £90 million this year alone to mitigate that and support for families facing the Tories benefit cap, keeping thousands of people in their family homes.

That’s why we want to see Housing Benefit and Local Housing Allowance devolved to the Scottish Parliament so we do not have to rely on continuing Westminster governments hurting households. This would allow the Scottish Government to take an innovative approach to tackle child poverty, expand the delivery of social housing and fund and encourage investment in house building.

Renters have got a raw deal from this Conservative government; we’ve seen rents skyrocket and despite promises to protect renters, the Conservatives have failed to ban no fault evictions.

Liberal Democrats would end no-fault evictions immediately, make longer tenancies the default and create a new national register of landlords to make the rented sector fairer for everybody.

We would build 150,000 social homes a year by the end of the parliament.

And we would also properly enforce standards of homes, particularly socially rented homes with time limits for repairs, and give proper recognition to tenant panels so that tenants have a strong voice in landlord governance.

While Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions have already been banned in Wales, there are still serious issues facing those in the private rental sector.

We believe in a system of fair rents and rent control so that they are affordable to local people on local incomes, and that individuals and families are not priced out of the area where they currently live. Our proposed Right to Adequate Housing Bill in Wales would include powers to introduce rent controls and other market interventions to make housing more affordable.
1) Our elected representatives have fought hard to end no-fault evictions, which has been a long-term commitment. We would introduce a new stable rental tenancy and end Section 21 no-fault evictions. Private tenants need to be secure in their homes.

2) The loss of social housing has left those who cannot or do not own their own homes at the mercy of a virtually unregulated private rental market. Greens would enhance the power of private renters but also build many more social and council homes, to provide secure homes for people who need to or choose to rent.

Our priority would be to increase Council and Housing Association provision of homes offered at low 'social rents' to 150,000 new homes a year, as soon as possible.

We will end the 'right to buy' so that homes continue to belong to the communities who funded them and available to those who need a warm, secure home.

We would give the power to local authorities to control rents if the local rental market is overheated.

Renters will also be given a new right to demand energy efficiency improvements.
1) We believe that existing legislation isn't sufficient to protect renters. Reform UK would abolish the Renters' Bill, to be replaced with much more robust processes for monitoring, appeals, and enforcement.

2) The provisions outlined above and our plans to fast-track planning to build more affordable, high-quality homes will transform Britain's housing sector, especially for less well-off renters.

We asked:

Will you improve help for unpaid carers? Including...

Q Those on Carer's Allowance lose it all if they earn a penny over £151 a week – will you end this cliff-edge cut-off and taper the limit?
Q Will you increase the Carer's Allowance payment?
Q Will you help those who are being chased for huge back payments, even for just going pennies over?

Carrie from Hertfordshire: "I have had to reduce my working hours by three days a week to care for my elderly mother. I'm only earning £30 per week above the limit to claim Carer's Allowance but I can't reduce my hours at work any further. Unpaid carers save the government thousands, if not millions of pounds!"

Read all their answers
I have huge respect for the vital and emotionally draining work that unpaid carers do supporting their loved ones. We have increased Carer's Allowance by almost £1,500 since 2010 and given employees who are also unpaid carers entitlement to a period of unpaid leave.

We want to support unpaid carers, and our Better Care Fund includes more than £300m of funding for carers support such as short breaks and respite services. Carers play an important, and too-often unrecognised role in our society, and we will continue to do everything possible to support them.

For carers facing back payments, we will ensure that all cases are dealt with fairly and appropriately.

My mum had a debilitating illness, Still’s disease. She never gave up, but her illness did shape our lives. I know how hard managing care responsibilities is for many families and we have to make sure the system works for those caring for loved ones.

It is outrageous that Conservative mismanagement of the system has caused untold stress to carers overpaid through no fault of their own and I know it is causing a huge amount of stress for the carers concerned. This is something we would look into right away in government when we can examine all of the relevant information and data. I can see no reason why carers cannot be immediately alerted if they go over the earnings threshold, and I am committed to putting the right safeguards in place to fix this for the long-term so more families do not suffer through no fault of their own. We will also ensure that any repayments are managed in a fair way for carers.

A Labour government will also support unpaid carers by introducing the right to flexible working and provide time away from work for caring responsibilities, join up services and support so families don’t have to battle their way around the system, and we will give people in care homes a new legal right to see their loved ones.

I know just how much of an important role carers play in Scotland, which is why the SNP Scottish Government created the Carer's Allowance Supplement which will make eligible carers £577 better off this year.

Between 2018 and the end of 2023, the SNP Scottish Government had invested more than £279 million so that carers continuously in receipt of its Carer's Allowance Supplement are better off by over £3,300. We also introduced the Young Carer Grant – the first of its kind in the UK – which last year supported 3700 young carers in Scotland with payments worth £1.4 million.

Both these benefits are unique to Scotland, showing how much we support those with caring responsibilities and we are going further by replacing the UK Government carers allowance with a carer support payment which will reach more carers and is more generous than the previous payment.

We will always stand up for carers and will do so at Westminster too, which is why at this election, SNP MPs are calling on the UK Government to halt unfair DWP repayment demands on Carer’s Allowance.

The SNP is clear that no-one should be placed in hardship as a result of overpayment recovery. In the Scottish social security system no-one is criminalised for making an honest mistake. This is because we have centred our welfare system on dignity, fairness, and respect – ensuring our system recognises the value of unpaid care and provides greater stability and support for carers.
I've been a carer for much of my life – as a teenager, nursing my mum during her long battle against bone cancer; then for my wonderful Nanna; and now as a father, caring for my severely disabled son. I know how rewarding and full of love caring can be, but also how relentless and exhausting.

For too long carers have been treated as an afterthought by this Conservative government. Thousands of carers are being shamefully hounded in the overpayments scandal, all because of the unfair cliff-edge for Carer's Allowance and the DWP's incompetence. The Liberal Democrats will fight for carers every day. Every vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote to fix the care crisis and give family carers a fair deal.

We will:

Introduce an earnings taper to end the unfair cliff-edge.

Increase the Carer's Allowance by £20 a week.

Stop pursuing carers for overpayments in Carer's Allowance.
Plaid Cymru would seek the devolved powers to replace Carer’s Allowance with a Universal Carers Income – non-means tested and equal at least to the level of Job Seekers Allowance – for all carers providing more than 35 hours of care.

Plaid Cymru has also been working to deliver a National Care Service for Wales. We believe that social care, like health care, should be free at the point of use, and that the distinction between the two is artificial. Ending this distinction will also help with reducing Delayed Transfers of Care, the time that people remain in hospital rather than care settings. We will continue to work towards this goal, particularly to support those with dementia.

We will pay social care workers at least £1 above the Real Living Wage in order to make the job more attractive and improve recruitment, and make this index linked. This would ensure that a full-time worker was paid greater than £1,800 more than the Real Living Wage.

1) We don’t have plans to address this taper. However, this issue strengthens the case for Universal Basic Income which we will push for in the longer term.

2) We would increase carer's allowance by at least 10% a week.

3) We don’t have plans to do this. However, this issue strengthens the case for Universal Basic Income which we will push for in the longer term.

1) Reform UK is the only party with a plan to fix social care in Britain. To make sure there are enough staff to take care of your loved ones – rather than leaving you alone to face that challenge – we have pledged that all frontline social care workers will pay zero basic rate tax for the first 3 years of employment.

2) Reform UK will commence a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the social care system. In general, we want to put much more emphasis on making sure that social care delivers for families, rather than relying on the current inefficient and unsustainable system.

3) This is definitely a key issue that would be covered by the Royal Commission of Inquiry into social care that Reform UK has proposed. We want to take politics out of social care, whereas the current government is persisting with the same broken system.

We asked:

What will you do for the over-60s and WASPI women? Including...

Q Will you follow the recommendations of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and compensate women born in the 50s who have lost years of their state pension entitlement?

Read all their answers

We are carefully considering the Ombudsman report into WASPI women, and we will work with MPs to provide an appropriate and swift response.

Since 2010, we have made it a priority to give people peace of mind in their retirement. We introduced the Triple Lock, which has seen the basic State Pension rise by £3,700 since 2010. This year, the new State Pension increased by £900.

We will continue to provide pensioners with dignity in retirement and ensure the new State Pension is not dragged into income tax for the first time in history by introducing the new Triple Lock Plus. This means we will continue to uprate the State Pension in line with the highest of prices, earnings or 2.5% – on current forecasts, this will mean the new State Pension increases by a further £430 in April next year to £11,970 and increases by £1,685 a year to £13,200 by the end of the Parliament. And critically we will ensure that from next year the tax-free personal allowance for pensioners also rises by the highest of prices, earnings or 2.5%, guaranteeing that the new State Pension is always below the tax-free threshold.

From April 2025, we will increase the personal allowance for pensioners by introducing a new age-related personal allowance. This is a tax cut of around £100 for eight million pensioners next year – rising to £275 a year by the end of the Parliament.

Under our new Pensions Tax Guarantee, the Conservatives will not introduce any new taxes on pensions. We will maintain the 25% tax free lump sum and maintain tax relief on pension contributions at their marginal rate. We will not extend National Insurance to employer pension contributions.

I am determined that the Labour government I lead does everything it can to ensure people have security and dignity in retirement.

Labour will maintain the triple lock on pensions and increase the state pension each year in line with inflation, average earnings, or by 2.5 per cent, whichever is higher.

And I know that accessing NHS care and rising crime and antisocial behaviour are particular concerns for many over-60s. Labour’s first steps for change in government include cutting NHS waiting times with 40,000 more appointments each week, during evenings and weekends, paid for by cracking down on tax avoidance and non-dom loopholes. We will also crack down on crime and antisocial behaviour, with more neighbourhood police paid for by ending wasteful contracts signed off by Conservative ministers.

The Waspi women have been through so much and have campaigned tirelessly over many years. The Conservatives had months to respond to the ombudsman report before the election, but shamefully failed to do so. If we’re privileged enough to come into government after the election, we’ll pick up the work that the Conservatives kicked into the long grass.

The SNP is the only major party in UK standing up for WASPI women, who are being ignored by Labour and the Tories. We are committed to making sure the UK Government delivers full, fast and fair compensation for women who have been wronged by pension inequality.

SNP MPs in Westminster have fought tirelessly for justice for WASPI women who have been so badly let down by the UK government, and we will protect pensions by maintaining the triple lock and move to deliver a wellbeing pension. We will also oppose any further increases in the state pension age. The SNP Manifesto has had the maximum three tick approval from the Waspi campaign on meeting its three tests - unlike the Tories and Labour.

Everyone deserves the chance of a comfortable retirement when the time comes. That’s why Liberal Democrats introduced the pension triple lock when in Government, to ensure fair increases in the state pension every year, and why we are committed to maintaining it, as well as improving pension helplines to ensure quicker responses to pension queries. We will also ensure that women born in the 1950s are finally treated fairly and properly compensated.

I'm proud that Plaid Cymru's manifesto has a crystal-clear commitment to providing compensation for women who have been seriously affected financially by this scandal. These women have suffered years of injustice, and yet are still denied rightful compensation.

Plaid Cymru supports compensation for women who have been negatively impacted by the changes in pension provision, as highlighted by the Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign (WASPI). We support compensation payments of at least Level 5 of the ombudsman scale for all 1950s women pensioners affected, amounting to between £3000 and £9950.

We are encouraging our general election candidates to sign the WASPI women pledge for fast and fair compensation. We have allocated £7 billion in our costed manifesto to fund this.

The public finances are in a dire state after years of Tory mismanagement. If elected, Reform UK would review Britain’s economic position before assessing these claims. Moreover, we will always hold civil servants and public bodies to account if they fail citizens and groups like the WASPI women.

We asked:

How will you help those with children and who need childcare? Including...

Q Will you shift the Child Benefit thresholds to household income to end the current 'higher earner' cut-off, which penalises single-earner and dominant-income families?
Q How will you ease the childcare crisis in the UK?

"I am worried about making ends meet on maternity pay, finding a space in a nursery is proving a nightmare and the cost of childcare when I return is also a major worry." MoneySaver who wants to remain anonymous.

Read all their answers

We have delivered the biggest expansion to free childcare for working families, and are committed to making childcare accessible and affordable for families. This includes our pledge to offer 30 hours a week of free childcare a week from nine months to the start of school, saving those families an average of £6,900.

We will make the child benefit system fairer by moving to a household system and ensuring that families don’t start losing child benefit until their joint incomes reach £120,000. This will save 700,000 families, on average, £1,500.

The childcare crisis in the UK has become completely untenable. I’ve met countless parents who are in despair over the situation, often locked out of the workplace because it costs too much to get childcare. It’s bad for their careers, their family finances and it’s bad for Britain’s economy – it has to change.

Labour will ensure that government funded childcare entitlements are genuinely met with a real plan for delivery, not just warm words. Our plan for early years is to deliver 100,000 new nursery places using space in primary schools. That will give kids a safe environment to develop before they arrive at school and help parents back into the workplace or let them expand their hours.

For primary school age children, we’ll offer breakfast clubs in schools. This will help parents who have earlier shifts at work to be secure in the knowledge that their children are fed and well looked after. And it has the added benefit of giving them a healthy start to the day, which is proven to help their attainment.

This means better childcare provision that gives every child the opportunity to thrive, and parents with more flexibility and opportunity to fulfil their ambitions. It’s good for the country and the economy. That’s what a Labour government would do.

The SNP Scottish Government has a proud record of supporting parents with childcare costs and tackling child poverty because we are determined to give every child in Scotland the best start in life.

Scotland is the only part of the UK to already offer 1,140 hours a year of funded early learning and childcare for all three and four-year-olds, and eligible two-year-olds, regardless of their parents’ working status. This saves families £5,500 annually and supports parents to work – which is important for parents as well as our economy.

This year we have funded an increase in pay to those working in early learning and childcare in the private, voluntary and independent sectors to £12 per hour for staff - and remain the only part of the UK to pay these staff the real Living Wage. We are also investing in increasing the childminder sector too.

When it comes to supporting families, we’re taking several actions. We’ve extended free school meal provision, cancelled school meal debt and delivered over 292,000 Baby Boxes.

We’ve also introduced the Scottish Child Payment which now provides £26.70 per child per week to low income families which, alongside other actions, is keeping 100,000 children out of poverty in the face of Westminster austerity.

All this is unique to Scotland amongst the four UK nations and shows our commitment to tackling poverty and supporting families.

The SNP Scottish Government is spending £3 billion a year to support low-income households through the Westminster made cost of living crisis.

At this election the SNP is the only major party in Scotland calling on the UK Government to scrap the two child benefit cap - the Institute for Fiscal Studies estimate 360,000 children could be immediately lifted out of poverty across the UK if it was abolished.

Millions of parents are being denied the choice to spend more time at home during that all-important first year with their child, because the UK still lags behind other countries on shared parental leave. Many mothers and fathers are being forced back to work early because they simply can’t afford to take more time off.

The Liberal Democrats’ proposals would give new parents the choice and flexibility they need, backed up by a package of proper support. We would boost statutory pay for new parents, doubling Statutory Maternity and Shared Parental Pay to £350 a week, alongside a new ‘dad month’ to help more fathers take time off work to be with their new baby during that first year. And we’d introduce a ‘Toddler Top-Up’ - an enhanced rate of Child Benefit for one-year-olds.

And we will ensure that all parents can access childcare that is flexible, affordable and fair by reviewing the rates paid to providers for free hours to ensure they cover the actual costs of delivering high-quality childcare and early years education.

As part of our mission to reduce child poverty, Plaid Cymru will increase child benefit by £20 per week for all children. Across Wales, this will help the 330,000 families and more than 550,000 children and young people who are eligible for this, boosting their life chances and helping families to deal with the cost-of-living crisis forced upon them by the Conservative UK Government.

Child benefit is received by 94% of children in Wales, so we believe this to be the most effective way of providing support to families. It would allow them to plan their finances and make responsible decisions in the face of a cost-of-living crisis that has forced so many into poverty.

We will also scrap the Conservative policy of the ‘two-child’ limit on universal credit payments, one of the key drivers of child poverty, and end the benefit cap which stops families from claiming the full amount.

On childcare, Plaid Cymru has secured extended childcare provision through the Cooperation Agreement, but our ambition goes further still. Our vision is for a national and free Welsh-medium early years education and childcare service, Meithrin Cymru, providing high quality provision for children aged 12 months until they are eligible for full time education.

1) We don’t have plans to do this.

2) In our manifesto we say that, in negotiation with the childcare sector, we would extend the outgoing government's offer of childcare to 35 hours per week from nine months. However, the government is not funding this adequately. We would. And we believe that our proposal for a £15 minimum wage would end the scandal of low-pay in this vital sector.

1) Reform UK is advocating for a complete overhaul of the tax system in favour of workers. We will take 7 million out of paying income tax by raising the personal allowance to £20,000. The higher rate (40%) would be raised to £70,000 – ending the penalisation of single earner and dominant income families. It’s low taxes and high incomes with Reform UK, or high taxes and stagnant wages with the Tories and Labour.

2) Reform UK would frontload the benefits system – making it more generous for children aged 1-4 - to ensure that a parent or parents who want to stay at home to take care of their child can do so.

We asked:

How will you help mortgage holders and mortgage prisoners? Including...

Q How will you help those who have or soon will come off fixed-rate mortgages, who are faced with bill shocks and much higher costs?
Q Over 100,000 mortgage prisoners have been trapped on extortionate rates for 15 years after their loans were sold off by the state. Will you commit to enacting the suggestions put forward by the LSE (based on detailed research funded by Martin Lewis)?

Lydia from South Wales: "My mortgage doubled from £400 to £800 a month this year... me and my husband are both on good salaries... but every month we end up in our overdraft."

Read all their answers

We have already taken steps to support mortgage holders and help those approaching the end of fixed-rate terms, and our mortgage charter, negotiated by the Chancellor with banks and building societies, enables you to extend the term of your mortgage—reducing your payments—or shift to an interest only mortgage for 6 months with no effect on your credit rating.

We have already taken steps with the Financial Conduct Authority to update mortgage lending rules, removing the barrier that prevented some mortgage prisoners from being able to switch. We’ll always be open to further practical and proportionate solutions to help mortgage prisoners. We are committed to working with the FCA and industry to carefully consider all proposals put forward.

Millions of people across Britain, like Lydia, have faced staggering increases in their mortgage costs. The Conservatives crashed our economy and created a mortgage bombshell that has hammered the finances of working families. You would think they'd have learned the lessons of Liz Truss, yet Rishi Sunak's election manifesto is a desperate wish list of unfunded promises that will mean £4,800 more on people's mortgages.

People who have done the right thing by saving for a deposit and then buying a home now face their payments going up by hundreds of pounds a month through no fault of their own. And mortgage prisoners face being hit by the same interest rate rise as other mortgage payers, but without even having had the option to move to a cheaper rate deal in the past.

Despite promises to look into the issues facing mortgage prisoners, the Conservatives have dragged their feet on this for years. In government we would work with regulators and the industry to ensure the issue is properly addressed.

It's time for a change. My Labour Party will stabilise our economy and never play fast and loose with the nation's finances.

I commend Martin Lewis for funding the LSE research into solutions to support ‘mortgage prisoners’. Whilst Tory governments have not just ignored the crisis but added to it through economic mismanagement and a disastrous budget from Liz Truss, this research shows the impact that people have been facing since the 2008 financial crisis.

Martin is right to say things have got worse for 'mortgage prisoners' and that the financial suffering they are facing is affecting their health and wellbeing too. The SNP agrees with solutions put forward by LSE to support people on high mortgages - for example that comprehensive financial advice provided by the UK Government and that equity loans on the model of Help to Buy could be a workable model for many people struggling with their mortgage.

The Conservatives have mismanaged the economy leading to spiking mortgage rates. Liberal Democrats would get mortgage rates back under control through careful economic management - unlike the Conservatives who have trashed the economy.

We would carefully review the recommendations put forward by the LSE for 100,000 mortgage prisoners and ensure they get a fair resolution.

Through our work in the Cooperation Agreement developing a Mortgage Protection Scheme, we will be able to help more and more people affected by soaring interest rates – a direct result of catastrophic decisions made by the reckless UK Tory Government.

We have supported the calls of the UK Mortgage Prisoners Action Group, which has called for reform to mortgages to avert further crises because of decisions made by the UK Government and regulator in the course of bailing out the banks following the 2008 global financial crash. We also fully support the recommendations of the LSE’s 2023 Report, which would deliver costed solutions to the situation facing mortgage prisoners.

1) The high interest rates we are seeing are the consequence of economic shocks and poor mismanagement of the UK economy. We do expect these to decline in the coming year.

2) We would support government guarantees and/or interest free equity loans to help these borrowers re-mortgage.

1) We want the Bank of England to end its process of quantitative tightening (QT) to deliver lower interest rates – this will be a big win for mortgage-holders who have suffered as inflation has spiralled upwards under the current government.

2) The proposals look comprehensive and Reform UK would commit to review them in line with a broader review of Britain’s public finances if elected.

We asked:

How will you help wannabe first-time buyers and those with Lifetime ISAs (LISAs)? Including...

Q What will you do to help first-time buyers get affordable mortgages and get on to the property ladder?
Q Will you scrap the penalty paid by those with LISAs who've been priced out and have to buy homes above the £450,000 LISA cap – or will you raise the cap?

Read all their answers

As Conservatives, we are committed to supporting people of all incomes and at all stages of life to save, and to make the aspiration of home ownership a reality for as many households as possible.

We have pledged that we will abolish stamp duty entirely for the majority of first-time buyers by making permanent the increase in the threshold to £425,000—something Labour would not do. We will launch an improved version of Help to Buy which will provide first time with an equity loan of up to 20% for a new-build house.

First-time buyers will be able to get onto the housing ladder with a 5% deposit on interest terms they can afford. The scheme will be part funded by contributions from house builders. We will also continue our Mortgage Guarantee Scheme, which has already helped over 40,000 households buy a home, while supporting more families to buy through shared ownership.

We believe that the property price cap is set at an appropriate level to support most first-time buyers across the UK while targeting households that may find it most difficult to get onto the property ladder. However, we will always keep the level of the cap under review to ensure it remains appropriate.

The simple fact is we don’t have enough homes in this country because the Conservatives haven’t built enough in the last 14 years. That has shut out a generation from owning their own home.

The average age of a first-time buyers is now 37. We’ve got to do something about that.

Labour is promising to get Britain building again with 1.5 million new homes in the next parliament. And to get help people get on the ladder, we’ll give first-time buyers ‘first dibs’ on new developments in their communities, with a comprehensive mortgage guarantee scheme for those who struggle to save for a large deposit.

We’ll look at any measures we can to support people getting the keys to their first home - but the priority will be these two things.

Recent research shows that the current generation of young people is set to be the first to be worse off than their parents. That is not the future the SNP want for our young people.

For too many, even those on decent incomes, saving for a deposit to buy a house is taking more time and it’s becoming harder for first time buyers to get onto the property ladder.

The SNP will urge the UK Government to scrap the penalty paid by those with LISAs. Whilst the cap is unlikely to affect many first time buyers in Scotland it’s simply wrong to penalise people who have saved up.

We have also committed to reintroduce a simplified Help to Buy ISA scheme to help first time buyers and would look carefully at caps so that people were not penalised.

But we believe that more fundamental change is needed.

Liberal Democrats would help people who cannot afford a deposit to own their own homes by introducing a new Rent to Own model for social housing where rent payments give tenants an increasing stake in the property, owning it outright after 30 years.

The LISA is a generous scheme to encourage people to save for a deposit with government help, but the cap is pricing people out of buying a property. We would look at increasing the cap on house prices to ensure people can use the money they’ve saved for its intended purpose.

Plaid Cymru believes that everybody has the right to a safe and affordable home in their community, and this should be the purpose of the housing system. We will introduce a Right to Adequate Housing which will underpin this pledge.

Our ‘Unnos’ policy aims to support the Welsh construction industry as part of our proposals, creating centres of excellence in both new construction and retrofitting existing housing stock, and would expand availability for first-time buyers.

Plaid Cymru-led local authorities have enacted higher council tax premiums for second homes and have worked to close the loophole that allows second homeowners to register their property as businesses in order to avoid paying the council tax premium, and which pushes out potential first-time buyers from their communities.

We also support bringing empty properties back into use by demanding that owners make improvements and provide grants to first time buyers to renovate empty and neglected properties.

We would focus government spending on the rental market ensuring that we increase the supply of genuinely affordable social housing.

1) Reform UK will overhaul the planning system to ensure many more homes are built. This is the best way of getting young people on the housing ladder. We would also support homeownership by cutting Stamp Duty to 0% for properties valued at less than £750,000.

2) Reform UK is in favour of measures that help our young people with the cost of living, including scrapping interest payments on student loans. We would consider the state of the public finances before committing to change the LISA system.

We asked:

Will you help students afford to live while at university? Including...

Q Student living support (the maintenance loan) has seen a substantial real-terms cut, especially for English students, threatening social mobility. How will you change this?
Q Are you looking to make other changes to student finance, including tuition fees?

Read all their answers

We want everyone to be given the opportunity to get the skills they need after leaving school. For many young people this will mean going to university and I am proud that an English 18-year-old from a disadvantaged background today is 74% more likely to go to university than in 2010.

Our student finance system targets the highest level of support at the lowest-income families, including a 2.5% increase in loans and grants for 2024-25. However, we recognise that cost of living pressures remain, and that is why we have provided additional funding to universities via the Office for Students to support students with hardship funding and will continue to work closely with the Office for Students to ensure that students are supported during their studies.

We are not planning on making other changes to student finance. We have already reformed student loans so that no one pays more than what they borrowed in real-terms and have frozen tuition fees to balance the needs of universities with keeping costs low for students.

I know students have struggled with soaring costs of living under the Conservatives. We’ll ease that pressure in a number of ways including by removing age bands on the national minimum wage, so employers can no longer pay young people less and for the first time consider the cost of living in setting the minimum wage. This will make a real difference to students working to support themselves during their studies.

But we’ll also drive-up standards in rented accommodation, requiring landlords to make homes cheaper to heat and saving renters £250 a year on average. We will tackle the high cost of housing, of energy, and of food, and really bear down on the root causes of the cost-of-living crisis.

The Conservatives’ tuition fee system is broken. It doesn’t work for students, for our universities who are increasingly having to cut back courses as they’re getting squeezed, and we’re not getting a good deal as taxpayers.

We want to take time to get this right because not deliver more bungled reforms, so from government – should we win the trust of the British people – we will work through the modelling available, with students and with our universities, to make changes to this system because we know it isn’t working. We will do this without putting any more burdens on the taxpayer because we know working people are already struggling.

Further and higher education should always be based on the ability to learn rather than the ability to pay – and we will never put a price on education. That is why around 120,000 Scottish students in Scotland do not have to pay a single penny for tuition fees – and never will do whilst the SNP is in government.

Unlike the other main parties, the SNP will continue to make sure that Scottish students don’t leave their studies saddled with thousands of pounds in tuition fee debt and will never impose tuition fees. This saves around £28,000 per student compared to in rest of the UK and in addition average student loan debt for Scottish students is the lowest in the UK.

The SNP Government also provides young people under 22 years old with a free bus pass which reduces the financial pressure they face whilst studying and working.

We are also making sure care experienced students get the support they need through care experienced student bursaries.

This Conservative Government has made student finance more and more regressive. They scrapped maintenance grants, cut the salary at which graduates start repaying their loans, and are devaluing arts courses at our internationally renowned universities.

For most students, the cost of living is the most pressing concern. This is why Liberal Democrats would reinstate maintenance grants for disadvantaged students immediately to make sure that living costs are not a barrier to studying at university.

We would also establish a review of higher education finance in the next Parliament to consider any necessary reforms in light of the latest evidence of the impact of the existing financing system on access, participation and quality, and make sure there is no more retrospective raising of rates or selling-off of loans to private companies.

Plaid Cymru is committed to making university education free for all and we are committed to introducing tuition and maintenance loans for all adults over 18 in both further and higher education.

We have also outlined a strong commitment to lifelong learning, including a lifetime learning allowance, offering a grant of £5,000 to every individual over 25 to train or retrain, and are committed to addressing the fall in part-time and mature study.

1) We would fully fund every higher education student, restoring maintenance grants and scrapping undergraduate tuition fees. Our long-term plans also include seeking to cancel the injustice of graduate debt.

2) We have provided in our manifesto for replacing new student loans with direct funding of universities and maintenance grants to new students at a headline revenue cost of £25bn per year. Because the OBR forecasts assume that about one third of loans would not be repaid anyway the net cost is lower with an estimated effect on the public sector net debt by the end of 5 years of £2.5bn.

1) Reform UK wants more of our young people to pursue training and apprenticeships – funded by our Employer Immigration Tax on the employment of foreign workers that will raise £20bn in just one parliament. Students should only go to uni if they are studying for worthwhile degrees. To ease the financial burden on students that do decide to go to university, Reform UK is committed to scrapping interest payments on student loans – a huge boost for our indebted young people.

2) As stated above, Reform UK is the only party committed to scrapping interest payments on student loans. This would guarantee that university is affordable for our best and brightest, making sure the average student doesn’t accrue thousands of pounds a year in interest charges.

We asked:

What will you do to ensure insurance is affordable? Including...

Q Car insurance is compulsory, home insurance necessary, yet prices are up around 50% over the last year alone. Many people are being priced out, increasing the risk of more being uninsured. What will you do to help?
Q Many people with pre-existing physical and mental health conditions are penalised and priced out of going on holiday. What will you do to help?

Read all their answers

A Conservative government will ensure that there is a competitive insurance market as this is the most effective way to keep prices down for consumers.

I know that travel insurance can be expensive, but it is important people have coverage before they travel. I would encourage everyone to make sure they have declared any pre-existing conditions properly to make sure their quote is accurate and their cover is sufficient to cover any costs they might incur.

Car insurance is not a luxury but a legal requirement, and it is completely unaffordable for millions of drivers. The Conservatives have overseen rising thefts, more potholes and worsening consumer practices that have caused the price of car insurance to soar. Hard-pressed drivers have seen insurance soar by 77% in just two years, and it's the poorest drivers being hit hardest.

Labour will take action on soaring costs by calling in the Competition and Markets Authority and urging the Financial Conduct Authority to launch urgent investigations into the rising cost of car insurance, including investigating whether postcode pricing practices are unfairly targeting ethnic minorities and those on lower incomes. We will also ensure the FCA and CMA are robustly regulating insurance companies to ensure they’re treating all customers fairly.

The SNP has previously called for more action from the Treasury on making sure car insurance is affordable, particularly given the discrepancy in insurance charges in the UK compared to other European countries.

The SNP wrote to the Chancellor before the election to call for the Financial Conduct Authority to conduct an inquiry into these price disparities to ensure fairness and transparency in the insurance market.

The rise of insurance prices has added yet more pressure during this cost-of-living crisis, and we will take action to protect people from unfair insurance prices. We would introduce a national financial inclusion strategy.

Affordable insurance should be open to all, which is why Plaid Cymru is committed to an Essentials Guarantee level to ensure that all individuals and families receive at least the minimum required for daily life. The costs of this have been calculated by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation as being £120 for an individual each week and £200 for a couple. By making this a legal minimum in Universal Credit, the standard allowance would be set so that any deductions do not take income below this threshold.

1) We have prioritised public spending on those most in need and tackling the challenge of our climate and environment.

2) We have prioritised public spending on those most in need and tackling the challenge of our climate and environment.

1) Reform UK will be focused on putting money back into your pocket to ensure that you can cover your costs. Lifting the personal allowance to £20,000, for example, will save the average worker £1,500 per year.

2) We will make work pay, but those that are unable to work for good reason will of course be provided for by the welfare system.

We asked:

Will you change the council tax system and help stop increases? Including...

Q The band most homes in England and Scotland are in is still dictated by a stopgap, 2^nd gear, drive-by valuation from 1991 (2003 in Wales). Around 400,000 homes are in the wrong band, and they are moving further away from any semblance of reality of house prices. Will you reform or re-band?
Q Will you ensure that the severely mentally impaired council tax discount is prominently publicised across councils, made easier to claim, and has standardised backdating rules?

Read all their answers
I am committed to seeing our tax burden fall, and we will keep council tax down. Council tax rose twice as fast under Labour, 1997 to 2010, than it has under us and in Labour run Wales, council tax has quadrupled since 1997. We will not introduce new council tax bands or drag people into higher rates.

On the severely mentally impaired council tax discount, in 2019, the Conservative Government published the first ever plain English guide [GOV.UK Guide to Council Tax] on how to claim council tax discounts and exemptions. But there is more we can do to ensure consistency of practice across local councils, and support families and carers in looking after those with disabilities and impairments at home. We are also the only party in this election with a Family Homes Guarantee, pledging to safeguard council tax discounts, exemptions and disregards from backdoor tax hikes.

We think taxes on working people are too high, which is why we have committed to not raising income tax, VAT, or national insurance over the next parliament.

We aren’t looking at changing council tax bands, our priority is on delivering our comprehensive plan for growth, which is how we get ourselves out of the low growth, high tax trap created by the Conservatives.

Councils should be doing all they can to ensure people entitled to council tax discounts can get them and we will work with local leaders to ensure they can do this.

We’ll give local authorities more certainty by giving them multi-year funding settlements. This will give them the ability to plan their finances for the long term, and deliver the services their residents want to see, such as fixing potholes and regular bin collections.

Scottish council taxpayers are getting the best deal in Britain, paying on average £590 a year less than they would in Tory-run England, and £423 less than in Labour-run Wales. Our Council Tax Reduction scheme also reduces the tax bills of over 450,000 people.

In recognition of the financial burden placed on households as a result of the Tory cost of living crisis, the SNP took action and froze Council Tax across Scotland this year to help keep money in people’s pockets where it was needed most.

The SNP will always support every effort being made to ensure people, especially the poorest in our society, are kept aware of any discounts they may be entitled to on their council tax.

The SNP in government believe reform on the council tax is needed and has established a Working Group on Council Tax.

Liberal Democrats will not undertake a council tax revaluation, but under our plans we will provide much greater support to local authorities. We have already pledged to replace business rates with a Commercial Landowner Levy to help our high streets.

We will give local authorities the ability to increase council tax by up to 500% on newly bought second homes, with a stamp duty surcharge on overseas residents purchasing such properties. This would help reduce pressures on local authority finances in places that are dealing with housing shortages due to the proliferation of AirBnBs and similar accommodation.

We support greater promotion of council tax discounts and will support local authorities in standardising rules and making it easier to claim.

Council tax is one of the most outdated and regressive forms of taxation which places a heavier burden on some of our lower income households, and disproportionately impacts poorer areas of Wales. Plaid Cymru is committed to making it fairer and the proposals we have jointly agreed with the Welsh Government offer a chance to do just that.

We have been exploring changes to the council tax system which could make a real difference, by making the system fairer and more progressive while still supporting the services delivered by local authorities.
1) The Green Party has always opposed the Council Tax, which is a regressive tax, that shifts the emphasis away from a local tax on property. As part of shifting taxation away from employment and towards wealth, elected Greens will champion a fair system for taxing landowners. Our long-term policy aim is a Land Value Tax so that those with the most valuable and largest land holdings would contribute the most.

In the next parliament, elected Greens will take steps towards this by pushing for:

Re-evaluation of Council Tax bands to reflect big changes in value since 1990s.

Removal of business rate relief on Enterprise Zones, Freeports, petrol stations and most empty properties.

A survey of all landholdings to pave the way for fair taxation of land.

2) This would be an issue for individual MPs but our inclusive approach to people with disabilities would encourage them to support this for their constituents.
1) Reform UK would like a system whereby recent house prices are used to decide council tax brackets. This is a fairer approach to raising revenue than the current outdated system.

2) Yes, we are in favour of the standardisation and simplification of taxation and will deliver a tax system – from income to council tax – that delivers on that pledge.

We asked:

What will you do about household budgets and food costs? Including...

Q More than half of people who go to Citizens Advice for help are in a deficit budget – meaning their income is not enough to cover their essential costs even after money advice. How will you address this desperate situation?
Q Food prices are still nearly 27% higher than three years ago. What will you do to take action on the cost of food?

Megan from Orpington: "The prices for food are going up and up every month and more and more are struggling just to get their essentials for their own household meals."

Read all their answers
When I became Prime Minister, inflation was in double digits. Our action has helped bring it back to target, starting to ease the pressures on household budgets. We will continue to keep inflation low and we will cut taxes for people at every stage of their life, leaving people with more money in their pocket. Earlier this year we began cutting National Insurance and we will take another 2p off employee National Insurance so that we will have halved it from 12% at the beginning of this year to 6% by April 2027, a total tax cut of £1,350 for the average worker on £35,000 – and the next step in our long- term ambition to end the double tax on work when financial conditions allow.

Food prices were sent soaring by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Food inflation is now back to where it was before the invasion, and we will continue to support a competitive grocery sector.

It’s appalling that so many families are struggling at the moment. I know what it’s like to struggle. When I was growing up, my parents had to cut off our phone for months on end because we couldn’t pay the bill. I know so too many are having to make difficult choices.

There are several things we would look at, the first being we have got to make work pay. Our plan is to very quickly introduce a package of new rights for working people if we take office. That include banning exploitative zero hours contracts; ending fire and rehire; and introducing basic rights from day one to parental leave, sick pay, and protection from unfair dismissal.

But most importantly, Labour will also make sure the minimum wage is a genuine living wage. We will change the remit of the independent Low Pay Commission so for the first time it accounts for the cost of living and remove the discriminatory age bands, so all adults are entitled to the same minimum wage. That will deliver a pay rise to hundreds of thousands of workers across the UK.

For the families that are already really struggling, we’ll review Universal Credit so that it makes work pay and tackles poverty. We want to end mass dependence on emergency food parcels, which is a moral scar on our society.

But we also need to look at how we bring down the cost of the basics, like food. To support manufacturers in delivering that cheaper food, we will bring down the cost of energy, and help reduce food prices by removing barriers to businesses trading.

We’ll also back our fantastic British farmers with a number of schemes to remove the challenges they face every day and stops them growing the food we need, because food security is national security.

Finally, we’ve got to get growth back into our economy. I accept this ‘the boring stuff’. But growth and good jobs is the route to putting money back in people’s pockets, and that will be a Labour government’s number one mission.

I know the real impact being felt by household budgets right now. They are being stretched to breaking point due to the Tories economic mismanagement and spiralling inflation sending household bills skyrocketing. And this has impacted on public services with austerity and cuts from the Tories taking its toll – cuts that are due to be continued by Labour

The SNP Scottish Government is spending £3 billion a year to support low-income households through the Westminster made cost of living crisis.

The SNP in Westminster have consistently called for real action to help to bring household bills down and put money back into people’s pockets. This included a call for an investigation into the sky-high supermarket prices that shoppers are being forced to pay and a demand for the Competition and Markets authority to use its full powers including fines if instances were discovered of supermarkets price gouging.

Countless families are struggling with the sky-high cost of food, so we are dedicated to introducing a new National Food Strategy to tackle rising food prices.

This would include investing an additional £1 billion a year in UK farmers to support profitable, sustainable and nature-friendly farming and enable lower production costs to be passed onto consumers.

Liberal Democrats will also expand free school meals to all children in poverty, with an ambition of expanding them to all primary school children when public finances allow. We will also end the two-child limit – the fastest, most cost-effective way to take hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty.

As previously mentioned, Plaid Cymru is committed to an Essentials Guarantee level so that all individuals and families receive at least the minimum required for daily life.

We would also tackle food price inflation by giving farmers the help they need to thrive. That means promoting opportunities to develop local processing capacity and use procurement policy to shorten supply chains, cut food miles and create local jobs. We would demand amendments to the Shortage Occupancy List to ensure primary producers in Wales have access to the workforce required to support the industry.

Thanks to Plaid Cymru’s influence, all primary school pupils in Wales are now set to receive a free school meal – easing the burden on household budgets and food costs. But we know there are more children and families who need help. That is why Plaid Cymru Local Authorities are committed to the aim of extending universal Free School Meals to include secondary school pupils during next council term, beginning the necessary planning and preparatory work immediately, as part of Plaid Cymru’s vision of introducing this policy across Wales.
1) A combination of austerity, poor choices in response to the Covid pandemic and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis has left too many people reliant on foodbanks and going hungry. With the right political choices, we can do so much better – lifting everyone up and making sure all of us can access extra help if we need it.

Elected Greens will campaign to:

Increase Universal Credit and legacy benefits by £40 a week.

End the unfair five week wait for benefits which is pushing people into debt.

Abolish the two-child benefit cap and lift 250,000 children out of poverty.

Increase all disability benefits by 5%.

Ensure that pensions are always uprated in line with inflation and keep pace with wage rises across the economy.

Scrap the bedroom tax.

In the long term, Green MPs will push for the introduction of a Universal Basic Income that will give everybody the security to start a business, study, train or just live their life in dignity.

2) We are offering strong support to farmers to provide greater self-sufficiency in the food in the UK.

We are focused on everybody having sufficient income to make healthy sustainable food choices. Our £40 a week uplift in universal credit and £15 a hour minimum wage will help make food affordable for those on the lowest incomes.
1) Reform UK will address this by increasing incomes for British workers. Wages have been stagnant for too long and we have a plan to increase them by ending mass immigration – which puts huge downward pressure on wages – and cutting taxes so hard-working British people can keep more of what they earn. Neither Labour or the Tories can be trusted to do the same.

2) Britain’s agricultural system needs root-and-branch reform. We will increase the farming budget to £3bn to increase domestic production and innovation. Reform UK will also stop supermarket price fixing to ensure that the big brands don’t excessively raise prices.

We asked:

How will you tackle the epidemic of fraud, scams and the social media Wild West? Including...

Q It's thought nearly 17% of all UK crimes start on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, yet scam adverts and posts still appear with near impunity. The Online Safety Act is in, but not in effect, and the Online Advertising programme is nowhere to be seen – meaning most of the online advertising market isn't covered. What will you do?
Q "Fraud is increasing and now makes up 40% of all crime. How will you prioritise its prevention and detection?" David in Heage.

Read all their answers
We have been working directly with industry to work out how it can tackle illegal advertising and we will bring in new legislation to tackle this. We will increase protections for children against adverts for products and services that are illegal to be sold to them.

The fraudulent advertising duty in the Online Safety Act will force the largest online platforms and search services to tackle fraudulent advertising.

With our fraud strategy, we have reduced fraud by 13% in the last year. Our new National Fraud Squad now has 400 officers in post. We will continue to clamp down on fraud by banning SIM farms, which are used to send bulk messages for fraudulent texts, and banning cold calls on financial products so fraudsters cannot dupe people into buying fake investments.

MoneySavingExpert readers are absolutely right to be concerned and angry about this. We've seen an explosion of fraud in the UK in recent years, and the response to match it from the government just hasn't been there. Time and again I’ve heard desperate stories from people who've been cheated out of their wages or savings, including from many vulnerable elderly retirees, and the only common factor in all those stories is that no-one was ever arrested or prosecuted.

This is now Britain's most commonly experienced crime and we've got to start treating it with the seriousness it deserves, whether it's fraud against the public sector, fraud against small businesses, or fraud against ordinary consumers. On the latter, we've set out plans this week to crack down on exactly the issue you've raised around online fraud, and the scams that are advertised on the big social media sites. Buying and selling online has to remain quick, easy and free, but it also has to be safe, and that's what we're determined to deliver.

At the moment, Britain's banks do most of the work of trying to prevent and detect fraudulent transactions, and bear all the cost of reimbursing victims, but the tech giants do little or nothing for either effort. That has to change. We want to ensure the tech companies have a clear obligation - and a clear financial incentive - to work with the banks and law enforcement agencies on preventing scams, identifying fraudulent transactions, tracking down the fraudsters, and supporting victims. The voluntary approach the Home Office has tried is not working, but our plans will change that.

With regulation of the internet reserved to Westminster, SNP MPs will press the UK Government to ensure tech firms cannot escape their responsibilities for the content on their platforms and must tackle content promoting fraud or scams. We would like to see the UK Government do much more to make people aware of the dangers of scams and fraud and how social media is used to target people.

The SNP Scottish Government successfully got the UK Government to strengthen protections for children in its Online Safety Act and will continue to do so when it comes to making sure people are protected. We want to see the full enforcement of the Online Safety Act and prompt strengthening of these laws when required so the law can keep up with the fast moving world of tech.

Within Scotland, the SNP Scottish Government has a ‘Scams prevention, awareness and enforcement strategy’ with specific actions to tackle scams focused on prevention and disruption, awareness and education, and enforcement.

We know that today, so much crime takes place online - but the Conservatives have totally failed to respond. Too often, local forces don’t have the specialist skills, resources, or even the time they need to stop and solve online crime.

Liberal Democrats would create a new Online Crime Agency to effectively tackle illegal content and activity online, including personal fraud, coordinating work across the UK, and recognising that perpetrators and victims of online crime can be based in entirely different parts of the country.

Liberal Democrats have a clear plan to tackle fraud - starting with prevention. That’s why we are committed to launching a high-profile public awareness campaign to help people spot, avoid and report frauds and scams.

We will also implement plans to require banks to reimburse victims of authorised push payment scams unless there is clear evidence that they are at fault, and make sure the public gets the transparency it deserves on banks’ ability to prevent fraud through naming and shaming of the banks with the worst record of preventing fraud and reimbursing victims.

Plaid Cymru is committed to tackling the epidemic off digital crime – we previously introduced a bill that would have combined measures against digital crime from about 30 different existing laws and updated regulations covering online surveillance, monitoring and abusive digital content, and we will continue to look for opportunities to strengthen protections against fraud and cybercrime.
We are deeply concerned that the online space is unregulated and that this is giving an open space for crooks and fraudsters. Our approach combines legislative action, enhanced consumer protections, increased resources for law enforcement, public education, and collaboration with technology companies.

Tackling Fraud and Scams on Social Media

We believe these steps are essential to combat the epidemic of fraud and scams effectively:

Introduction of a Digital Bill of Rights: Our manifesto commits to advocating for a Digital Bill of Rights. This legislation would position the UK as a leader in setting high standards for the rule of law and democracy in digital spaces. It would encompass robust regulations for online intermediaries and platforms, akin to the EU Digital Services Act, which Greens across Europe have successfully helped to shape. This Act regulates online marketplaces, social networks, content-sharing platforms, app stores, and more, ensuring higher accountability and consumer protection.

Strengthening E-Commerce Protections: We acknowledge that e-commerce poses unique challenges for consumer protection, especially when transactions occur across jurisdictions. To mitigate these risks, we propose that all credit, debit, or charge card issuers operating in the UK enforce stringent security procedures for online transactions. This will protect consumers from fraud and ensure suppliers meet their obligations.

Ensuring Transparency in E-Banking: We advocate for mandatory transparency for e-banking websites, requiring them to prominently display their registered address on the homepage. This measure aims to provide consumers with the same level of protection and service they would expect from traditional banking methods.

Prioritising Fraud Prevention and Detection

Fraud now constitutes 40% of all crimes, highlighting the urgent need for effective prevention and detection strategies. To prioritise this, we propose:

Enhanced Law Enforcement Resources: Increasing funding and resources for law enforcement agencies dedicated to tackling fraud. This includes specialized training for officers and improved technological tools for detecting and investigating fraudulent activities.

Public Awareness Campaigns: Launching nationwide campaigns to educate the public about common fraud tactics and how to avoid them. These campaigns will also provide guidance on reporting suspicious activities.

Collaboration with Tech Companies: Working closely with technology companies to develop and implement advanced security measures and algorithms that can detect and prevent fraudulent activities on their platforms. This collaboration will also include creating robust reporting and response systems for users.

Legislative Action: Pushing for the swift implementation of the Online Safety Act and the development of the Online Advertising Programme to cover the entire online advertising market. These measures will hold social media platforms accountable for the content they host and the advertisements they display.
1) Reform UK is committed to ensure that online spaces are safe and consumers aren’t defrauded, doing so in a way that does not damage free speech or introduce needless regulation.

2) Reform UK will not tolerate online fraud as part of our Zero Tolerance approach to policing. We have pledged an extra £3bn a year to the police – a sizeable increase to cover the fight against traditional crime and cybercrime alike.

We asked:

Will you ensure the UK's fastest-growing debt – buy now, pay later – is regulated? Including...

Q Action to regulate buy now, pay later lenders has been delayed and, frankly, forgotten. What will you do to make sure that consumers have the same rights and protections, including the ability to complain to the ombudsman, that they have with other types of borrowing?

Read all their answers

We will hold Buy-Now Pay-Later to the high standards we expect of other loans and forms of credit, protecting consumers.

We're committed to regulating Buy-Now Pay-Later (BNPL) and that's why we held a public consultation on draft legislation prior to the election being called. We got a large number of substantive and detailed responses to that and they need careful consideration to ensure that regulation is proportionate and delivers on our aim to protect BNPL borrowers without unduly restricting access to these useful interest-free products. If returned to government, we'll publish a response to the consultation setting out the next steps.

I recognise that many people value BNPL products, as they can be a useful way to budget and pay for items. But the Government’s failure to properly regulate the sector has left millions at risk from bad actors in the market.

The Labour Party, debt campaigners and the major providers of BNPL have all consistently called for regulation to provide certainty for businesses and to protect the British public – but the Conservatives have refused to listen.

The Conservatives have not just ignored the calls of consumer champions to regulate the sector, including Martin Lewis – who rightly urged the Chancellor not to shelve plans for regulation – but also the major providers of BNPL products themselves.

Only Labour has a plan to work hand-in-hand with industry to properly regulate the buy-now-pay later sector and support people through the Tory cost-of-living crisis.

During the cost-of-living crisis, we know people have got into more debt and that can cause households to get trapped into spiralling debt.

We need to see Westminster do much more to increase regulation of lending products and support for households who turn to them. We also need to ensure that consumers who have fallen into debt with Buy Now Pay Later products have the same rights as those who have borrowed from other lending products.

Over the course of the last parliament, the SNP voted for an amendment to the Financial Services and Markets Act that would look to regulate buy now pay later credit services. However, the Tory Government voted against this measure, delaying action to regulate these products.

The Conservative Government’s failure to properly support people with the cost of living crisis and to regulate Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) has left millions exposed to financial harm.

We will put in place clear rules and safeguards to ensure consumers are protected. We would look at measures such as bringing BNPL under ‘consumer duty’ rules for financial products, which require that key information is clearly set out; requiring that fair and consistent support is available to all BNPL users who need it, including access to the Financial Ombudsman Service; and bringing BNPL debt collection practises in line with industry standards.

Plaid Cymru supports stronger consumer safeguards for the buy now, pay later market. We would like to see the Government introduce proportionate regulation and ensure greater transparency on this method of payment so that consumers fully understand the risks involved.

We would strengthen and support credit unions as an alternative to exploitative lending options.

We don’t want British people, particularly young people, building up unaffordable debts. If elected, Reform UK would instruct the FCA and CMA to create a framework to ensure that the necessary protections are in place.

A question from the Money & Mental Health Policy Institute:

Q "Money and mental health problems are inextricably linked, and the pandemic and rising costs have left millions more people struggling with these issues. Integrating debt advice and NHS Talking Therapies would boost recovery rates, help more people into work, and save the government and the NHS money. Will you commit to joining up these services?"

Read all their answers

We’re committed to expanding NHS Talking Therapies, because we know how they can help people who are finding it hard to cope with life – whether that’s issues with finances, work or relationships. In our manifesto we announced we’d boost our planned expansion by 50% - meaning that Talking Therapies will be available to well over 500,000 more people a year if we’re re-elected. The NHS is always looking at ways to improve the clinical effectiveness of their services, and so if evidence shows that integrating Talking Therapies with debt advice improves outcomes they’ll want to look at that. And the NHS’s Every Mind Matters website also offers practical ways to help people manage their money to improve their wellbeing.

I am a big believer in joining up services and reforming them to make them work more efficiently for service users.

My Labour government will inject resources and reform into NHS mental health services to not just give people their lives back, but to completely overhaul the way our country approaches mental health. One of our first steps in government will be to recruit 8,500 new staff to cut waiting lists, deliver mental health support in every school and an open access Young Futures mental health hub in every community, all fully funded by closing tax loopholes. We will also reform the Mental Health Act in our first King’s Speech, something the Conservatives promised but failed to do.

We also know that if you’re in good work, people’s mental health relapses can be cut by up to a half. That’s one reason why we’re so determined to grow the economy and create good, well-paid jobs across the country which people who are not in work and struggling with their mental health can then be supported to take up. We will devolve the responsibility and funding for employment support to local areas so that they can make sure services are joined up with the NHS. And our new Young Futures hubs will have employment advisors alongside mental health professionals working within them.

The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute is doing excellent work and while we do not have plans to integrate debt advice with NHS Talking Therapies, we will always keep how we can best support people under review.

The SNP has already taken action in this area.

Worrying about money can make our mental health worse, and poor mental health can make earning and managing money harder. That’s why in government, the SNP has just passed new laws to provide further protections for people who are in debt and experiencing mental health problems.

And we are also joining up services already focusing on providing advice services in trusted settings where people are more likely to visit.

The SNP Scottish Government pioneered Welfare Advice and Health Partnerships that put dedicated advisers into 180 GP practices in some of Scotland’s most deprived and rural areas to reach those most in need. Last year we expanded this to introduce that service in places like schools, hospitals and mental health services.

Last year we invested over £12 million to support income maximisation, welfare and debt advice services and estimate that more than 60,000 people were supported by Scottish government funded debt advice services. We know that early access to advice can make a difference to people’s financial situation and prevent issues – including debt – escalating.

I couldn’t agree more. In our manifesto, the Liberal Democrats make a clear commitment to recognise the adverse relationship between mental health and debt.

We will ensure there is better signposting between talking therapies and debt advice, as well as significantly increasing the number of NHS Talking Therapy appointments available.

Plaid Cymru supports reform of the Mental Health Act. Reform is well overdue, following an independent review of the Act in 2018 and a 2021 White Paper. We will press the Welsh Government to make necessary amendments to the Code of Practice in Wales. Alongside the transfer of full powers over policing to Wales, we would also transfer powers over the Mental Health Act. As part of reforms to the Act, we would look at streamlining pathways between NHS Talking Therapies and money advice services.

Elected Greens will focus on enabling major improvements to mental health care to put it on a truly equal footing with physical health care. This will include ensuring that everyone who needs it can access evidence-based mental health therapies within 28 days.

We will also push for more accessible and prompt mental health needs assessments for children and adolescents. The investment in primary care set out above will create easier access to these services in all communities.

We will provide a trained and paid counsellor in every primary and secondary school, and every six-form college. This work will be supported through bursaries to train counsellors from underrepresented backgrounds to ensure we have sufficient culturally aware counsellors for our diverse population.

We would ensure that mental health is given equal status with physical health in our NHS and ensure that everyone who needs it can access evidence-based mental health therapies within 28 days.

Reform UK will take a different approach to the NHS than the two main parties, while remaining committed to the service being free at the point of delivery. We will cut waste and bureaucracy to ensure more money flows to frontline services, and use targeted tax cuts to end staff shortages. A better-funded, better-staffed NHS will have more capacity to offer wrap-around care, including mental health.

Leader-by-leader, including video

Watch Rishi Sunak's 2-min MSE Leaders' Debate video answer, then read his answers for all topics.

Read full answers from Rishi Sunak, Conservatives

We asked:

What will you do about energy bills? Including...

Q You pay £330 a year in standing charges even before you use any energy. What will you do to bring them down?
Q Consumer energy bills are still significantly higher than what they were before the energy crisis. What will you do to lower them?
Q Will you introduce a social tariff for the vulnerable?
Q How will you help people to make their homes more efficient?

Sunak: "We are committed to helping consumers with their energy bills and have taken the action needed to protect them from external shocks in recent years.

"Ofgem, the energy regulator, is currently considering next steps on standing charge and we have made clear to Ofgem that standing charges must be fairer and kept as low as possible.

"Energy bills are down 63% since their peak, and we will continue to bear down on prices through our energy price cap, which prevents you from being overcharged. We’ll make sure you have a choice of smart energy tariffs, which can save you £900 a year, and introduce local markets for electricity which will save households £20 to £45 a year and speed up grid connections, saving another £15 to £25.

"A social tariff is fundamentally about supporting the most vulnerable with the cost of energy and this is what we have delivered. Between 2022-25 we are delivering a package of support worth £108 billion, or £3,800 per household on average.

"Our Warm Home Discount scheme provides 3 million households – people who have low incomes and live in homes that are costly to heat – with £150 towards their energy bills every year.

"When it comes to efficiency, almost half of homes in England are now energy efficiency Band C, up from just one in seven in 2010. We will invest £6 billion in energy efficiency over the next three years to make around a million homes warmer. And we will fund an energy efficiency voucher scheme, open to every household in England, to support the installation of energy efficiency measures and solar panels, helping families lower their bills."

What will you do to help renters – some of the hardest hit by recent inflation? Including...

Q Will you finally end Section 21 'no-fault' evictions, which prevent some renters from challenging rent rises and complaining about conditions in their homes?
Q How will you protect renters from poor living standards?

Sunak: "To support renters, we will pass a Renters Reform Bill that will deliver fairness in the rental market for landlords and renters alike. We will deliver the court reforms necessary to fully abolish Section 21 and strengthen other grounds for landlords to evict private tenants guilty of anti-social behaviour.

"We are also cracking down on rogue landlords to protect renters and our Renters Reform Bill will, for the first time, legislate for a decent homes standard in the private rented sector. "

Will you improve help for unpaid carers? Including...

Q Those on Carer's Allowance lose it all if they earn a penny over £151 a week – will you end this cliff-edge cut-off and taper the limit?
Q Will you increase the Carer's Allowance payment?
Q Will you help those who are being chased for huge back payments, even for just going pennies over?

Carrie from Hertfordshire: "I have had to reduce my working hours by three days a week to care for my elderly mother. I'm only earning £30 per week above the limit to claim Carer's Allowance but I can't reduce my hours at work any further. Unpaid carers save the government thousands, if not millions of pounds!"

Sunak: "I have huge respect for the vital and emotionally draining work that unpaid carers do supporting their loved ones. We have increased Carer’s Allowance by almost £1,500 since 2010 and given employees who are also unpaid carers entitlement to a period of unpaid leave.

"We want to support unpaid carers, and our Better Care Fund includes more than £300m of funding for carers support such as short breaks and respite services. Carers play an important, and too-often unrecognised role in our society, and we will continue to do everything possible to support them.

"For Carers facing back payments, we will ensure that all cases are dealt with fairly and appropriately."

What will you do for the over-60s and WASPI women? Including...

Q Will you follow the recommendations of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and compensate women born in the 50s who have lost years of their state pension entitlement?

Sunak: "We are carefully considering the Ombudsman report into WASPI women, and we will work with MPs to provide an appropriate and swift response.

"Since 2010, we have made it a priority to give people peace of mind in their retirement. We introduced the Triple Lock, which has seen the basic State Pension rise by £3,700 since 2010. This year, the new State Pension increased by £900.

"We will continue to provide pensioners with dignity in retirement and ensure the new State Pension is not dragged into income tax for the first time in history by introducing the new Triple Lock Plus. This means we will continue to uprate the State Pension in line with the highest of prices, earnings or 2.5% - on current forecasts, this will mean the new State Pension increases by a further £430 in April next year to £11,970 and increases by £1,685 a year to £13,200 by the end of the Parliament. And critically we will ensure that from next year the tax-free personal allowance for pensioners also rises by the highest of prices, earnings or 2.5%, guaranteeing that the new State Pension is always below the tax-free threshold. From April 2025, we will increase the personal allowance for pensioners by introducing a new age-related personal allowance. This is a tax cut of around £100 for eight million pensioners next year – rising to £275 a year by the end of the Parliament.

"Under our new Pensions Tax Guarantee, the Conservatives will not introduce any new taxes on pensions. We will maintain the 25% tax free lump sum and maintain tax relief on pension contributions at their marginal rate. We will not extend National Insurance to employer pension contributions."

How will you help those with children and who need childcare? Including...

Q Will you shift the Child Benefit thresholds to household income to end the current 'higher earner' cut-off, which penalises single-earner and dominant-income families?
Q How will you ease the childcare crisis in the UK?

"I am worried about making ends meet on maternity pay, finding a space in a nursery is proving a nightmare and the cost of childcare when I return is also a major worry." MoneySaver who wants to remain anonymous.

Sunak: "We have delivered the biggest expansion to free childcare for working families, and are committed to making childcare accessible and affordable for families. This includes our pledge to offer 30 hours a week of free childcare a week from nine months to the start of school, saving those families an average of £6,900.

"We will make the child benefit system fairer by moving to a household system and ensuring that families don’t start losing child benefit until their joint incomes reach £120,000. This will save 700,000 families, on average, £1,500."

How will you help mortgage holders and mortgage prisoners? Including...

Q How will you help those who have or soon will come off fixed-rate mortgages, who are faced with bill shocks and much higher costs?
Q Over 100,000 mortgage prisoners have been trapped on extortionate rates for 15 years after their loans were sold off by the state. Will you commit to enacting the suggestions put forward by the LSE (based on detailed research funded by Martin Lewis)?

Lydia from South Wales: "My mortgage doubled from £400 to £800 a month this year... me and my husband are both on good salaries... but every month we end up in our overdraft."

Sunak: "We have already taken steps to support mortgage holders and help those approaching the end of fixed-rate terms, and our mortgage charter, negotiated by the Chancellor with banks and building societies, enables you to extend the term of your mortgage—reducing your payments—or shift to an interest only mortgage for 6 months with no effect on your credit rating.

"We have already taken steps with the Financial Conduct Authority to update mortgage lending rules, removing the barrier that prevented some mortgage prisoners from being able to switch. We’ll always be open to further practical and proportionate solutions to help mortgage prisoners. We are committed to working with the FCA and industry to carefully consider all proposals put forward."

How will you help wannabe first-time buyers and those with Lifetime ISAs (LISAs)? Including...

Q What will you do to help first-time buyers get affordable mortgages and get on to the property ladder?
Q Will you scrap the penalty paid by those with LISAs who've been priced out and have to buy homes above the £450,000 LISA cap – or will you raise the cap?

Sunak: "As Conservatives, we are committed to supporting people of all incomes and at all stages of life to save, and to make the aspiration of home ownership a reality for as many households as possible.

"We have pledged that we will abolish stamp duty entirely for the majority of first-time buyers by making permanent the increase in the threshold to £425,000—something Labour would not do. We will launch an improved version of Help to Buy which will provide first time with an equity loan of up to 20% for a new build house.

"First-time buyers will be able to get onto the housing ladder with a 5% deposit on interest terms they can afford. The scheme will be part funded by contributions from house builders. We will also continue our Mortgage Guarantee Scheme, which has already helped over 40,000 households buy a home, while supporting more families to buy through shared ownership.

"We believe that the property price cap is set at an appropriate level to support most first-time buyers across the UK while targeting households that may find it most difficult to get onto the property ladder. However, we will always keep the level of the cap under review to ensure it remains appropriate."

Will you help students afford to live while at university? Including...

Q Student living support (the maintenance loan) has seen a substantial real-terms cut, especially for English students, threatening social mobility. How will you change this?
Q Are you looking to make other changes to student finance, including tuition fees?

Sunak: "We want everyone to be given the opportunity to get the skills they need after leaving school. For many young people this will mean going to university and I am proud that an English 18-year-old from a disadvantaged background today is 74% more likely to go to university than in 2010.

"Our student finance system targets the highest level of support at the lowest-income families, including a 2.5% increase in loans and grants for 2024-25. However, we recognise that cost of living pressures remain, and that is why we have provided additional funding to universities via the Office for Students to support students with hardship funding and will continue to work closely with the Office for Students to ensure that students are supported during their studies.

"We are not planning on making other changes to student finance. We have already reformed student loans so that no one pays more than what they borrowed in real-terms and have frozen tuition fees to balance the needs of universities with keeping costs low for students."

What will you do to ensure insurance is affordable? Including...

Q Car insurance is compulsory, home insurance necessary, yet prices are up around 50% over the last year alone. Many people are being priced out, increasing the risk of more being uninsured. What will you do to help?
Q Many people with pre-existing physical and mental health conditions are penalised and priced out of going on holiday. What will you do to help?

Sunak: "A Conservative government will ensure that there is a competitive insurance market as this is the most effective way to keep prices down for consumers.

"I know that travel insurance can be expensive, but it is important people have coverage before they travel. I would encourage everyone to make sure they have declared any pre-existing conditions properly to make sure their quote is accurate and their cover is sufficient to cover any costs they might incur."

Will you change the council tax system and help stop increases? Including...

Q The band most homes in England and Scotland are in is still dictated by a stopgap, 2^nd gear, drive-by valuation from 1991 (2003 in Wales). Around 400,000 homes are in the wrong band, and they are moving further away from any semblance of reality of house prices. Will you reform or re-band?
Q Will you ensure that the severely mentally impaired council tax discount is prominently publicised across councils, made easier to claim, and has standardised backdating rules?

Sunak: "I am committed to seeing our tax burden fall, and we will keep council tax down. Council tax rose twice as fast under Labour, 1997 to 2010, than it has under us and in Labour run Wales, council tax has quadrupled since 1997. We will not introduce new council tax bands or drag people into higher rates.

"On the severely mentally impaired council tax discount, in 2019, the Conservative Government published the first ever plain English guide [GOV.UK Guide to Council Tax] on how to claim council tax discounts and exemptions. But there is more we can do to ensure consistency of practice across local councils, and support families and carers in looking after those with disabilities and impairments at home. We are also the only party in this election with a Family Homes Guarantee, pledging to safeguard council tax discounts, exemptions and disregards from backdoor tax hikes."

What will you do about household budgets and food costs? Including...

Q More than half of people who go to Citizens Advice for help are in a deficit budget – meaning their income is not enough to cover their essential costs even after money advice. How will you address this desperate situation?
Q Food prices are still nearly 27% higher than three years ago. What will you do to take action on the cost of food?

Megan from Orpington: "The prices for food are going up and up every month and more and more are struggling just to get their essentials for their own household meals."

Sunak: "When I became Prime Minister, inflation was in double digits. Our action has helped bring it back to target, starting to ease the pressures on household budgets. We will continue to keep inflation low and we will cut taxes for people at every stage of their life, leaving people with more money in their pocket. Earlier this year we began cutting National Insurance and we will take another 2p off employee National Insurance so that we will have halved it from 12% at the beginning of this year to 6% by April 2027, a total tax cut of £1,350 for the average worker on £35,000 – and the next step in our long- term ambition to end the double tax on work when financial conditions allow.

"Food prices were sent soaring by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Food inflation is now back to where it was before the invasion, and we will continue to support a competitive grocery sector."

How will you tackle the epidemic of fraud, scams and the social media Wild West? Including...

Q It's thought nearly 17% of all UK crimes start on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, yet scam adverts and posts still appear with near impunity. The Online Safety Act is in, but not in effect, and the Online Advertising programme is nowhere to be seen – meaning most of the online advertising market isn't covered. What will you do?
Q "Fraud is increasing and now makes up 40% of all crime. How will you prioritise its prevention and detection?" David in Heage.

Sunak: "We have been working directly with industry to work out how it can tackle illegal advertising and we will bring in new legislation to tackle this. We will increase protections for children against adverts for products and services that are illegal to be sold to them.

"The fraudulent advertising duty in the Online Safety Act will force the largest online platforms and search services to tackle fraudulent advertising.

"With our fraud strategy, we have reduced fraud by 13% in the last year. Our new National Fraud Squad now has 400 officers in post. We will continue to clamp down on fraud by banning SIM farms, which are used to send bulk messages for fraudulent texts, and banning cold calls on financial products so fraudsters cannot dupe people into buying fake investments."

Will you ensure the UK's fastest-growing debt – buy now, pay later – is regulated? Including...

Q Action to regulate buy now, pay later lenders has been delayed and, frankly, forgotten. What will you do to make sure that consumers have the same rights and protections, including the ability to complain to the ombudsman, that they have with other types of borrowing?

Sunak: "We will hold Buy-Now Pay-Later to the high standards we expect of other loans and forms of credit, protecting consumers.

"We're committed to regulating Buy-Now Pay-Later (BNPL) and that's why we held a public consultation on draft legislation prior to the election being called. We got a large number of substantive and detailed responses to that and they need careful consideration to ensure that regulation is proportionate and delivers on our aim to protect BNPL borrowers without unduly restricting access to these useful interest-free products. If returned to government, we'll publish a response to the consultation setting out the next steps."

A question from the Money & Mental Health Policy Institute:

Q "Money and mental health problems are inextricably linked, and the pandemic and rising costs have left millions more people struggling with these issues. Integrating debt advice and NHS Talking Therapies would boost recovery rates, help more people into work, and save the government and the NHS money. Will you commit to joining up these services?"

Sunak: "We’re committed to expanding NHS Talking Therapies, because we know how they can help people who are finding it hard to cope with life – whether that’s issues with finances, work or relationships. In our manifesto we announced we’d boost our planned expansion by 50% - meaning that Talking Therapies will be available to well over 500,000 more people a year if we’re re-elected. The NHS is always looking at ways to improve the clinical effectiveness of their services, and so if evidence shows that integrating Talking Therapies with debt advice improves outcomes they’ll want to look at that. And the NHS’s Every Mind Matters website also offers practical ways to help people manage their money to improve their wellbeing."

Watch Keir Starmer's 2-min MSE Leaders' Debate video answer, then read his answers for all topics.

Read full answers from Sir Keir Starmer, Labour

We asked:

What will you do about energy bills? Including...

Q You pay £330 a year in standing charges even before you use any energy. What will you do to bring them down?
Q Consumer energy bills are still significantly higher than what they were before the energy crisis. What will you do to lower them?
Q Will you introduce a social tariff for the vulnerable?
Q How will you help people to make their homes more efficient?

Starmer: "The British people are paying the price of 14 years of economic chaos under the Conservatives. The choice at this general election is clear: higher bills and energy insecurity with the Conservatives, or lower bills and energy independence with Labour.

"Our plan to switch on Great British Energy will take back control of our destiny and invest in cheap, clean homegrown energy that we control. Funded by asking the big oil and gas companies to pay their fair share through a proper windfall tax, so the proceeds can be invested in the future of the country.

"For those struggling to make ends meet, we’ll stop the scandal of expensive pre-payment meters being forced on vulnerable people, and we’ll work with the energy regulator to reduce the standing charges that hit poorer households.

"And we’ll launch a Warm Homes Plan – spending an additional £6.6bn to upgrade Britain’s homes, cut energy bills and boost jobs across the country."

What will you do to help renters – some of the hardest hit by recent inflation? Including...

Q Will you finally end Section 21 'no-fault' evictions, which prevent some renters from challenging rent rises and complaining about conditions in their homes?
Q How will you protect renters from poor living standards?

Starmer: "I know the cost-of-living crisis has really hit renters, with failure to build enough homes over 14 years meaning renting is often unaffordable and expensive.

"To add to this, the government has shamefully failed to properly regulate the centre, leaving renters exposed to arbitrary eviction, poor quality homes and rip-off practices like bidding wars.

"That’s why I’m saying no ifs, no buts – Labour will immediately ban no-fault evictions so that families have the security of knowing that landlords can’t kick them out for no reason. And we’ll pass strong new laws to level the playing field between landlords and tenants.

"A crackdown is overdue on the unscrupulous landlords that rip off tenants with extortionate rents and poor-quality living conditions. That’s what Labour is determined to deliver.

"On rents, we’ll end rental bidding wars, so landlords can no longer pit hopeful renters against each other in a fight to see who can offer up a bigger sum. Labour will also end massive upfront payments, by capping the amount of rent requested upfront, forcing renters to turn to the bank of mum and dad just to get into the rental market.

"Finally, we’ll put power back in tenants’ hands so that they can challenge unreasonable rent hikes. We’ll let tenants recover costs in courts when their landlord increases their rent without issuing an official notice. We'll also give tenants a minimum of two months to terminate their contract in cases when a landlord increases rent disproportionately. And we’ll go further to ensure that tenants who take an unfair rent rise to court won’t see the increase after the court has ruled.

"For those living in lurid living conditions, we’ll tackle the respiratory and other health problems renters are suffering by stamping out black mould, damp and cold with new legal protections for tenants. Importantly, we’ll give every renter the same protection from damp, cold and mould by extending laws to private renters.

"The cost-of-living crisis is still being felt by so many families. That’s why we’ll slash fuel poverty and cut energy bills, saving the average tenant £250 per year, by requiring all landlords to meet stringent energy efficiency standards by 2030.

"The bottom line is that there are not enough homes in our country. Under the Tories, housing supply is collapsing and planning permissions are at record lows. The dream of home ownership has all but been killed off.

"Labour is promising 1.5 million new build homes in the next parliament and new schemes to unlock the dream of homeownership. We’ll give first-time buyers ‘first dibs’ on new developments in their communities, with a comprehensive mortgage guarantee scheme for those who struggle to save for a large deposit."

Will you improve help for unpaid carers? Including...

Q Those on Carer's Allowance lose it all if they earn a penny over £151 a week – will you end this cliff-edge cut-off and taper the limit?
Q Will you increase the Carer's Allowance payment?
Q Will you help those who are being chased for huge back payments, even for just going pennies over?

Carrie from Hertfordshire: "I have had to reduce my working hours by three days a week to care for my elderly mother. I'm only earning £30 per week above the limit to claim Carer's Allowance but I can't reduce my hours at work any further. Unpaid carers save the government thousands, if not millions of pounds!"

Starmer: "My mum had a debilitating illness, Still’s disease. She never gave up, but her illness did shape our lives. I know how hard managing care responsibilities is for many families and we have to make sure the system works for those caring for loved ones.

"It is outrageous that Conservative mismanagement of the system has caused untold stress to carers overpaid through no fault of their own and I know it is causing a huge amount of stress for the carers concerned. This is something we would look into right away in government when we can examine all of the relevant information and data. I can see no reason why carers cannot be immediately alerted if they go over the earnings threshold, and I am committed to putting the right safeguards in place to fix this for the long-term so more families do not suffer through no fault of their own. We will also ensure that any repayments are managed in a fair way for carers.

"A Labour government will also support unpaid carers by introducing the right to flexible working and provide time away from work for caring responsibilities, join up services and support so families don’t have to battle their way around the system, and we will give people in care homes a new legal right to see their loved ones."

What will you do for the over-60s and WASPI women? Including...

Q Will you follow the recommendations of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and compensate women born in the 50s who have lost years of their state pension entitlement?

Starmer: "I am determined that the Labour government I lead does everything it can to ensure people have security and dignity in retirement.

"Labour will maintain the triple lock on pensions and increase the state pension each year in line with inflation, average earnings, or by 2.5 per cent, whichever is higher.

"And I know that accessing NHS care and rising crime and antisocial behaviour are particular concerns for many over-60s. Labour’s first steps for change in government include cutting NHS waiting times with 40,000 more appointments each week, during evenings and weekends, paid for by cracking down on tax avoidance and non-dom loopholes. We will also crack down on crime and antisocial behaviour, with more neighbourhood police paid for by ending wasteful contracts signed off by Conservative ministers.

"The Waspi women have been through so much and have campaigned tirelessly over many years. The Conservatives had months to respond to the ombudsman report before the election, but shamefully failed to do so. If we’re privileged enough to come into government after the election, we’ll pick up the work that the Conservatives kicked into the long grass."

How will you help those with children and who need childcare? Including...

Q Will you shift the Child Benefit thresholds to household income to end the current 'higher earner' cut-off, which penalises single-earner and dominant-income families?
Q How will you ease the childcare crisis in the UK?

"I am worried about making ends meet on maternity pay, finding a space in a nursery is proving a nightmare and the cost of childcare when I return is also a major worry." MoneySaver who wants to remain anonymous.

Starmer: "The childcare crisis in the UK has become completely untenable. I’ve met countless parents who are in despair over the situation, often locked out of the workplace because it costs too much to get childcare. It’s bad for their careers, their family finances and it’s bad for Britain’s economy – it has to change.

"Labour will ensure that government funded childcare entitlements are genuinely met with a real plan for delivery, not just warm words. Our plan for early years is to deliver 100,000 new nursery places using space in primary schools. That will give kids a safe environment to develop before they arrive at school and help parents back into the workplace or let them expand their hours.

"For primary school age children, we’ll offer breakfast clubs in schools. This will help parents who have earlier shifts at work to be secure in the knowledge that their children are fed and well looked after. And it has the added benefit of giving them a healthy start to the day, which is proven to help their attainment.

"This means better childcare provision that gives every child the opportunity to thrive, and parents with more flexibility and opportunity to fulfil their ambitions. It’s good for the country and the economy. That’s what a Labour government would do."

How will you help mortgage holders and mortgage prisoners? Including...

Q How will you help those who have or soon will come off fixed-rate mortgages, who are faced with bill shocks and much higher costs?
Q Over 100,000 mortgage prisoners have been trapped on extortionate rates for 15 years after their loans were sold off by the state. Will you commit to enacting the suggestions put forward by the LSE (based on detailed research funded by Martin Lewis)?

Lydia from South Wales: "My mortgage doubled from £400 to £800 a month this year... me and my husband are both on good salaries... but every month we end up in our overdraft."

Starmer: "Millions of people across Britain, like Lydia, have faced staggering increases in their mortgage costs. The Conservatives crashed our economy and created a mortgage bombshell that has hammered the finances of working families. You would think they’d have learned the lessons of Liz Truss, yet Rishi Sunak’s election manifesto is a desperate wish list of unfunded promises that will mean £4,800 more on people’s mortgages.

"People who have done the right thing by saving for a deposit and then buying a home now face their payments going up by hundreds of pounds a month through no fault of their own. And mortgage prisoners face being hit by the same interest rate rise as other mortgage payers, but without even having had the option to move to a cheaper rate deal in the past.

"Despite promises to look into the issues facing mortgage prisoners, the Conservatives have dragged their feet on this for years. In government we would work with regulators and the industry to ensure the issue is properly addressed.

"It’s time for a change. My Labour Party will stabilise our economy and never play fast and loose with the nation’s finances."

How will you help wannabe first-time buyers and those with Lifetime ISAs (LISAs)? Including...

Q What will you do to help first-time buyers get affordable mortgages and get on to the property ladder?
Q Will you scrap the penalty paid by those with LISAs who've been priced out and have to buy homes above the £450,000 LISA cap – or will you raise the cap?

Starmer: "The simple fact is we don’t have enough homes in this country because the Conservatives haven’t built enough in the last 14 years. That has shut out a generation from owning their own home.

"The average age of a first-time buyers is now 37. We’ve got to do something about that.

"Labour is promising to get Britain building again with 1.5 million new homes in the next parliament. And to get help people get on the ladder, we’ll give first-time buyers ‘first dibs’ on new developments in their communities, with a comprehensive mortgage guarantee scheme for those who struggle to save for a large deposit.

"We’ll look at any measures we can to support people getting the keys to their first home - but the priority will be these two things."

Will you help students afford to live while at university? Including...

Q Student living support (the maintenance loan) has seen a substantial real-terms cut, especially for English students, threatening social mobility. How will you change this?
Q Are you looking to make other changes to student finance, including tuition fees?

Starmer: "I know students have struggled with soaring costs of living under the Conservatives. We’ll ease that pressure in a number of ways including by removing age bands on the national minimum wage, so employers can no longer pay young people less and for the first time consider the cost of living in setting the minimum wage. This will make a real difference to students working to support themselves during their studies.

"But we’ll also drive-up standards in rented accommodation, requiring landlords to make homes cheaper to heat and saving renters £250 a year on average. We will tackle the high cost of housing, of energy, and of food, and really bear down on the root causes of the cost-of-living crisis.

"The Conservatives’ tuition fee system is broken. It doesn’t work for students, for our universities who are increasingly having to cut back courses as they’re getting squeezed, and we’re not getting a good deal as taxpayers.

"We want to take time to get this right because not deliver more bungled reforms, so from government – should we win the trust of the British people – we will work through the modelling available, with students and with our universities, to make changes to this system because we know it isn’t working. We will do this without putting any more burdens on the taxpayer because we know working people are already struggling."

What will you do to ensure insurance is affordable? Including...

Q Car insurance is compulsory, home insurance necessary, yet prices are up around 50% over the last year alone. Many people are being priced out, increasing the risk of more being uninsured. What will you do to help?
Q Many people with pre-existing physical and mental health conditions are penalised and priced out of going on holiday. What will you do to help?

Starmer: "Car insurance is not a luxury but a legal requirement, and it is completely unaffordable for millions of drivers. The Conservatives have overseen rising thefts, more potholes and worsening consumer practices that have caused the price of car insurance to soar. Hard-pressed drivers have seen insurance soar by 77% in just two years, and it's the poorest drivers being hit hardest.

"Labour will take action on soaring costs by calling in the Competition and Markets Authority and urging the Financial Conduct Authority to launch urgent investigations into the rising cost of car insurance, including investigating whether postcode pricing practices are unfairly targeting ethnic minorities and those on lower incomes. We will also ensure the FCA and CMA are robustly regulating insurance companies to ensure they’re treating all customers fairly."

Will you change the council tax system and help stop increases? Including...

Q The band most homes in England and Scotland are in is still dictated by a stopgap, 2^nd gear, drive-by valuation from 1991 (2003 in Wales). Around 400,000 homes are in the wrong band, and they are moving further away from any semblance of reality of house prices. Will you reform or re-band?
Q Will you ensure that the severely mentally impaired council tax discount is prominently publicised across councils, made easier to claim, and has standardised backdating rules?

Starmer: "We think taxes on working people are too high, which is why we have committed to not raising income tax, VAT, or national insurance over the next parliament.

"We aren’t looking at changing council tax bands, our priority is on delivering our comprehensive plan for growth, which is how we get ourselves out of the low growth, high tax trap created by the Conservatives.

"Councils should be doing all they can to ensure people entitled to council tax discounts can get them and we will work with local leaders to ensure they can do this.

"We’ll give local authorities more certainty by giving them multi-year funding settlements. This will give them the ability to plan their finances for the long term, and deliver the services their residents want to see, such as fixing potholes and regular bin collections."

What will you do about household budgets and food costs? Including...

Q More than half of people who go to Citizens Advice for help are in a deficit budget – meaning their income is not enough to cover their essential costs even after money advice. How will you address this desperate situation?
Q Food prices are still nearly 27% higher than three years ago. What will you do to take action on the cost of food?

Megan from Orpington: "The prices for food are going up and up every month and more and more are struggling just to get their essentials for their own household meals."

Starmer: "It’s appalling that so many families are struggling at the moment. I know what it’s like to struggle. When I was growing up, my parents had to cut off our phone for months on end because we couldn’t pay the bill. I know so too many are having to make difficult choices.

"There are several things we would look at, the first being we have got to make work pay. Our plan is to very quickly introduce a package of new rights for working people if we take office. That include banning exploitative zero hours contracts; ending fire and rehire; and introducing basic rights from day one to parental leave, sick pay, and protection from unfair dismissal.

"But most importantly, Labour will also make sure the minimum wage is a genuine living wage. We will change the remit of the independent Low Pay Commission so for the first time it accounts for the cost of living and remove the discriminatory age bands, so all adults are entitled to the same minimum wage. That will deliver a pay rise to hundreds of thousands of workers across the UK.

"For the families that are already really struggling, we’ll review Universal Credit so that it makes work pay and tackles poverty. We want to end mass dependence on emergency food parcels, which is a moral scar on our society.

"But we also need to look at how we bring down the cost of the basics, like food. To support manufacturers in delivering that cheaper food, we will bring down the cost of energy, and help reduce food prices by removing barriers to businesses trading.

"We’ll also back our fantastic British farmers with a number of schemes to remove the challenges they face every day and stops them growing the food we need, because food security is national security.

"Finally, we’ve got to get growth back into our economy. I accept this ‘the boring stuff’. But growth and good jobs is the route to putting money back in people’s pockets, and that will be a Labour government’s number one mission."

How will you tackle the epidemic of fraud, scams and the social media Wild West? Including...

Q It's thought nearly 17% of all UK crimes start on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, yet scam adverts and posts still appear with near impunity. The Online Safety Act is in, but not in effect, and the Online Advertising programme is nowhere to be seen – meaning most of the online advertising market isn't covered. What will you do?
Q "Fraud is increasing and now makes up 40% of all crime. How will you prioritise its prevention and detection?" David in Heage.

Starmer: "MoneySavingExpert readers are absolutely right to be concerned and angry about this. We've seen an explosion of fraud in the UK in recent years, and the response to match it from the government just hasn't been there. Time and again I’ve heard desperate stories from people who've been cheated out of their wages or savings, including from many vulnerable elderly retirees, and the only common factor in all those stories is that no-one was ever arrested or prosecuted.

"This is now Britain's most commonly experienced crime and we've got to start treating it with the seriousness it deserves, whether it's fraud against the public sector, fraud against small businesses, or fraud against ordinary consumers. On the latter, we've set out plans this week to crack down on exactly the issue you've raised around online fraud, and the scams that are advertised on the big social media sites. Buying and selling online has to remain quick, easy and free, but it also has to be safe, and that's what we're determined to deliver.

"At the moment, Britain's banks do most of the work of trying to prevent and detect fraudulent transactions, and bear all the cost of reimbursing victims, but the tech giants do little or nothing for either effort. That has to change. We want to ensure the tech companies have a clear obligation - and a clear financial incentive - to work with the banks and law enforcement agencies on preventing scams, identifying fraudulent transactions, tracking down the fraudsters, and supporting victims. The voluntary approach the Home Office has tried is not working, but our plans will change that."

Will you ensure the UK's fastest-growing debt – buy now, pay later – is regulated? Including...

Q Action to regulate buy now, pay later lenders has been delayed and, frankly, forgotten. What will you do to make sure that consumers have the same rights and protections, including the ability to complain to the ombudsman, that they have with other types of borrowing?

Starmer: "I recognise that many people value BNPL products, as they can be a useful way to budget and pay for items. But the Government’s failure to properly regulate the sector has left millions at risk from bad actors in the market.

"The Labour Party, debt campaigners and the major providers of BNPL have all consistently called for regulation to provide certainty for businesses and to protect the British public – but the Conservatives have refused to listen.

"The Conservatives have not just ignored the calls of consumer champions to regulate the sector, including Martin Lewis – who rightly urged the Chancellor not to shelve plans for regulation – but also the major providers of BNPL products themselves.

"Only Labour has a plan to work hand-in-hand with industry to properly regulate the buy-now-pay later sector and support people through the Tory cost-of-living crisis."

A question from the Money & Mental Health Policy Institute:

Q "Money and mental health problems are inextricably linked, and the pandemic and rising costs have left millions more people struggling with these issues. Integrating debt advice and NHS Talking Therapies would boost recovery rates, help more people into work, and save the government and the NHS money. Will you commit to joining up these services?"

Starmer: "I am a big believer in joining up services and reforming them to make them work more efficiently for service users.

"My Labour government will inject resources and reform into NHS mental health services to not just give people their lives back, but to completely overhaul the way our country approaches mental health. One of our first steps in government will be to recruit 8,500 new staff to cut waiting lists, deliver mental health support in every school and an open access Young Futures mental health hub in every community, all fully funded by closing tax loopholes. We will also reform the Mental Health Act in our first King’s Speech, something the Conservatives promised but failed to do.

"We also know that if you’re in good work, people’s mental health relapses can be cut by up to a half. That’s one reason why we’re so determined to grow the economy and create good, well-paid jobs across the country which people who are not in work and struggling with their mental health can then be supported to take up. We will devolve the responsibility and funding for employment support to local areas so that they can make sure services are joined up with the NHS. And our new Young Futures hubs will have employment advisors alongside mental health professionals working within them.

"The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute is doing excellent work and while we do not have plans to integrate debt advice with NHS Talking Therapies, we will always keep how we can best support people under review."

Watch John Swinney's 2-min MSE Leaders' Debate video answer, then read his answers for all topics.

Read full answers from John Swinney, Scottish National Party

We asked:

What will you do about energy bills? Including...

Q You pay £330 a year in standing charges even before you use any energy. What will you do to bring them down?
Q Consumer energy bills are still significantly higher than what they were before the energy crisis. What will you do to lower them?
Q Will you introduce a social tariff for the vulnerable?
Q How will you help people to make their homes more efficient?

Swinney: "Households across the UK have been hammered with soaring energy bills as a result of the Tory cost of living crisis. They deserve real action to support them.

"Where we can, the SNP is taking action with the limited powers of devolution to help people struggling.

"For example, the SNP Scottish Government replaced the UK government’s Cold Weather Payment, which was only paid if cold enough for long enough, with a Low Income Winter Heating payment so that everyone on low income benefits gets an annual payment every winter no matter. We also introduced a Child Winter Heating Payment to support families with severely disabled children. That’s the sort of action that hasn’t been seen under the Tories, and won’t be under Labour either. It meant that in winter 2023/24 £30 million worth of support to over 400,000 households who needed it most.

"As a government, we also continue to offer the most generous package of funding in the UK for households to transition to clean heating systems.

"At Westminster, the SNP is calling for a statutory social tariff for energy, broadband and mobile charges for all who need one, and press for a significant cut in standing charges for all and removal of standing charges for anyone with a prepayment meter – issues reserved to Westminster.

"SNP MPs will also call for a combination of the Warm Home Discount and Energy Company Obligation to create a single, flexible fuel poverty scheme in Scotland – one that better reflects our definition of fuel poverty and supports our most vulnerable.

"Additionally, the SNP is demanding the UK government introduce a fair energy pricing and rebate scheme for Highland and Islands residents, offering financial relief and offsetting the higher per-unit costs of electricity those residents currently face."

What will you do to help renters – some of the hardest hit by recent inflation? Including:

Q Will you finally end Section 21 'no-fault' evictions, which prevent some renters from challenging rent rises and complaining about conditions in their homes?
Q How will you protect renters from poor living standards?

Swinney: "The SNP is committed to supporting tenants.

"Some time ago, in 2017, the SNP Scottish Government introduced new tenancy rights in Scotland so there are no fault evictions. This means rents can only rise once a year with three months notice and there is mandatory registration of letting agents.

"Meanwhile the Tories failed to take action - breaking promise after promise - and Labour are still not promising enough to support tenants today.

"It’s also the SNP Scottish Government, which introduced a temporary rent cap and eviction ban in 2022 to support people through the Westminster made cost of living crisis.

"At Westminster, the SNP has consistently pressed the UK Government to do likewise in England, recognising the heavy toll such evictions take on renters across the UK.

"The SNP is committed to ensuring that renters in Scotland can live in safe and good quality homes. In Scotland, the ‘Repairing Standard’ is enshrined in law, setting the standard which accommodation for private rent must be kept to.

"The SNP Scottish Government made sure that renters aren’t paying the price for poorly insulated homes - we have ensured, in law, that properties for private rent in Scotland must have an EPC rating of D or higher. This means warmer homes and lower bills for renters.

"We are continuing to support renters where we can, which is why we are currently taking new legislation through parliament to establish a long-term system of rent controls in the private rented sector and new prevention of homelessness duties

"Unlike the Tories and Labour, the SNP in Westminster will continue to call for the scrapping of the abhorrent bedroom tax, the benefit cap, and the two child cap which all impact on renting households and to bring the local housing allowance up to a standard which matches rents.

"Despite the challenges of UK austerity on the SNP Scottish Government’s budget, the SNP Scottish Government has made sure no one in Scotland has to pay for the Tory bedroom tax since 2013. We are spending £90 million this year alone to mitigate that and support for families facing the Tories benefit cap, keeping thousands of people in their family homes.

"That’s why we want to see Housing Benefit and Local Housing Allowance devolved to the Scottish Parliament so we do not have to rely on continuing Westminster governments hurting households. This would allow the Scottish Government to take an innovative approach to tackle child poverty, expand the delivery of social housing and fund and encourage investment in house building."

Will you improve help for unpaid carers? Including...

Q Those on Carer's Allowance lose it all if they earn a penny over £151 a week – will you end this cliff-edge cut-off and taper the limit?
Q Will you increase the Carer's Allowance payment?
Q Will you help those who are being chased for huge back payments, even for just going pennies over?

Carrie from Hertfordshire: "I have had to reduce my working hours by three days a week to care for my elderly mother. I'm only earning £30 per week above the limit to claim Carer's Allowance but I can't reduce my hours at work any further. Unpaid carers save the government thousands, if not millions of pounds!"

Swinney: "I know just how much of an important role carers play in Scotland, which is why the SNP Scottish Government created the Carer’s Allowance Supplement which will make eligible carers £577 better off this year.

"Between 2018 and the end of 2023, the SNP Scottish Government had invested more than £279 million so that carers continuously in receipt of its Carer’s Allowance Supplement are better off by over £3,300. We also introduced the Young Carer Grant - the first of its kind in the UK - which last year supported 3700 young carers in Scotland with payments worth £1.4 million.

"Both these benefits are unique to Scotland, showing how much we support those with caring responsibilities and we are going further by replacing the UK Government carers allowance with a carer support payment which will reach more carers and is more generous than the previous payment.

"We will always stand up for carers and will do so at Westminster too, which is why at this election, SNP MPs are calling on the UK Government to halt unfair DWP repayment demands on Carer’s Allowance.

"The SNP is clear that no-one should be placed in hardship as a result of overpayment recovery. In the Scottish social security system no-one is criminalised for making an honest mistake. This is because we have centred our welfare system on dignity, fairness, and respect - ensuring our system recognises the value of unpaid care and provides greater stability and support for carers."

What will you do for the over-60s and WASPI women? Including...

Q Will you follow the recommendations of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and compensate women born in the 50s who have lost years of their state pension entitlement?

Swinney: "The SNP is the only major party in UK standing up for WASPI women, who are being ignored by Labour and the Tories. We are committed to making sure the UK Government delivers full, fast and fair compensation for women who have been wronged by pension inequality.

"SNP MPs in Westminster have fought tirelessly for justice for WASPI women who have been so badly let down by the UK government, and we will protect pensions by maintaining the triple lock and move to deliver a wellbeing pension. We will also oppose any further increases in the state pension age. The SNP Manifesto has had the maximum three tick approval from the Waspi campaign on meeting its three tests - unlike the Tories and Labour."

How will you help those with children and who need childcare? Including...

Q Will you shift the Child Benefit thresholds to household income to end the current 'higher earner' cut-off, which penalises single-earner and dominant-income families?
Q How will you ease the childcare crisis in the UK?

"I am worried about making ends meet on maternity pay, finding a space in a nursery is proving a nightmare and the cost of childcare when I return is also a major worry." MoneySaver who wants to remain anonymous.

Swinney: "The SNP Scottish Government has a proud record of supporting parents with childcare costs and tackling child poverty because we are determined to give every child in Scotland the best start in life.

"Scotland is the only part of the UK to already offer 1,140 hours a year of funded early learning and childcare for all 3 and 4-year-olds, and eligible 2-year-olds, regardless of their parents’ working status. This saves families £5,500 annually and supports parents to work – which is important for parents as well as our economy.

"This year we have funded an increase in pay to those working in early learning and childcare in the private, voluntary and independent sectors to £12 per hour for staff - and remain the only part of the UK to pay these staff the real Living Wage. We are also investing in increasing the childminder sector too.

"When it comes to supporting families, we’re taking several actions. We’ve extended free school meal provision, cancelled school meal debt and delivered over 292,000 Baby Boxes.

"We’ve also introduced the Scottish Child Payment which now provides £26.70 per child per week to low income families which, alongside other actions, is keeping 100,000 children out of poverty in the face of Westminster austerity.

"All this is unique to Scotland amongst the four UK nations and shows our commitment to tackling poverty and supporting families.

"The SNP Scottish Government is spending £3 billion a year to support low-income households through the Westminster made cost of living crisis.

"At this election the SNP is the only major party in Scotland calling on the UK Government to scrap the two child benefit cap - the Institute for Fiscal Studies estimate 360,000 children could be immediately lifted out of poverty across the UK if it was abolished."

How will you help mortgage holders and mortgage prisoners? Including...

Q How will you help those who have or soon will come off fixed-rate mortgages, who are faced with bill shocks and much higher costs?
Q Over 100,000 mortgage prisoners have been trapped on extortionate rates for 15 years after their loans were sold off by the state. Will you commit to enacting the suggestions put forward by the LSE (based on detailed research funded by Martin Lewis)?

Lydia from South Wales: "My mortgage doubled from £400 to £800 a month this year... me and my husband are both on good salaries... but every month we end up in our overdraft."

Swinney: "I commend Martin Lewis for funding the LSE research into solutions to support ‘mortgage prisoners’. Whilst Tory governments have not just ignored the crisis but added to it through economic mismanagement and a disastrous budget from Liz Truss, this research shows the impact that people have been facing since the 2008 financial crisis.

"Martin is right to say things have got worse for 'mortgage prisoners' and that the financial suffering they are facing is affecting their health and wellbeing too. The SNP agrees with solutions put forward by LSE to support people on high mortgages - for example that comprehensive financial advice provided by the UK Government and that equity loans on the model of Help to Buy could be a workable model for many people struggling with their mortgage."

How will you help wannabe first-time buyers and those with Lifetime ISAs (LISAs)? Including...

Q What will you do to help first-time buyers get affordable mortgages and get on to the property ladder?
Q Will you scrap the penalty paid by those with LISAs who've been priced out and have to buy homes above the £450,000 LISA cap – or will you raise the cap?

Swinney: "Recent research shows that the current generation of young people is set to be the first to be worse off than their parents. That is not the future the SNP want for our young people.

"For too many, even those on decent incomes, saving for a deposit to buy a house is taking more time and it’s becoming harder for first time buyers to get onto the property ladder.

"The SNP will urge the UK Government to scrap the penalty paid by those with LISAs. Whilst the cap is unlikely to affect many first time buyers in Scotland it’s simply wrong to penalise people who have saved up.

"We have also committed to reintroduce a simplified Help to Buy ISA scheme to help first time buyers and would look carefully at caps so that people were not penalised.

"But we believe that more fundamental change is needed."

Will you help students afford to live while at university? Including...

Q Student living support (the maintenance loan) has seen a substantial real-terms cut, especially for English students, threatening social mobility. How will you change this?
Q Are you looking to make other changes to student finance, including tuition fees?

"Further and higher education should always be based on the ability to learn rather than the ability to pay – and we will never put a price on education. That is why around 120,000 Scottish students in Scotland do not have to pay a single penny for tuition fees – and never will do whilst the SNP is in government.

"Unlike the other main parties, the SNP will continue to make sure that Scottish students don’t leave their studies saddled with thousands of pounds in tuition fee debt and will never impose tuition fees. This saves around £28,000 per student compared to in rest of the UK and in addition average student loan debt for Scottish students is the lowest in the UK.

"The SNP Government also provides young people under 22 years old with a free bus pass which reduces the financial pressure they face whilst studying and working.

"We are also making sure care experienced students get the support they need through care experienced student bursaries."

What will you do to ensure insurance is affordable? Including...

Q Car insurance is compulsory, home insurance necessary, yet prices are up around 50% over the last year alone. Many people are being priced out, increasing the risk of more being uninsured. What will you do to help?
Q Many people with pre-existing physical and mental health conditions are penalised and priced out of going on holiday. What will you do to help?

Swinney: "The SNP has previously called for more action from the Treasury on making sure car insurance is affordable, particularly given the discrepancy in insurance charges in the UK compared to other European countries.

"The SNP wrote to the Chancellor before the election to call for the Financial Conduct Authority to conduct an inquiry into these price disparities to ensure fairness and transparency in the insurance market."

Will you change the council tax system and help stop increases? Including...

Q The band most homes in England and Scotland are in is still dictated by a stopgap, 2^nd gear, drive-by valuation from 1991 (2003 in Wales). Around 400,000 homes are in the wrong band, and they are moving further away from any semblance of reality of house prices. Will you reform or re-band?
Q Will you ensure that the severely mentally impaired council tax discount is prominently publicised across councils, made easier to claim, and has standardised backdating rules?

Swinney: "Scottish council taxpayers are getting the best deal in Britain, paying on average £590 a year less than they would in Tory-run England, and £423 less than in Labour-run Wales. Our Council Tax Reduction scheme also reduces the tax bills of over 450,000 people.

"In recognition of the financial burden placed on households as a result of the Tory cost of living crisis, the SNP took action and froze Council Tax across Scotland this year to help keep money in people’s pockets where it was needed most.

"The SNP will always support every effort being made to ensure people, especially the poorest in our society, are kept aware of any discounts they may be entitled to on their council tax.

"The SNP in government believe reform on the council tax is needed and has established a Working Group on Council Tax."

What will you do about household budgets and food costs? Including...

Q More than half of people who go to Citizens Advice for help are in a deficit budget – meaning their income is not enough to cover their essential costs even after money advice. How will you address this desperate situation?
Q Food prices are still nearly 27% higher than three years ago. What will you do to take action on the cost of food?

Megan from Orpington: "The prices for food are going up and up every month and more and more are struggling just to get their essentials for their own household meals."

Swinney: "I know the real impact being felt by household budgets right now. They are being stretched to breaking point due to the Tories economic mismanagement and spiralling inflation sending household bills skyrocketing. And this has impacted on public services with austerity and cuts from the Tories taking its toll – cuts that are due to be continued by Labour

"The SNP Scottish Government is spending £3 billion a year to support low-income households through the Westminster made cost of living crisis. We

"The SNP in Westminster have consistently called for real action to help to bring household bills down and put money back into people’s pockets. This included a call for an investigation into the sky-high supermarket prices that shoppers are being forced to pay and a demand for the Competition and Markets authority to use its full powers including fines if instances were discovered of supermarkets price gouging."

How will you tackle the epidemic of fraud, scams and the social media Wild West? Including...

Q It's thought nearly 17% of all UK crimes start on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, yet scam adverts and posts still appear with near impunity. The Online Safety Act is in, but not in effect, and the Online Advertising programme is nowhere to be seen – meaning most of the online advertising market isn't covered. What will you do?
Q "Fraud is increasing and now makes up 40% of all crime. How will you prioritise its prevention and detection?" David in Heage.

Swinney: "With regulation of the internet reserved to Westminster, SNP MPs will press the UK Government to ensure tech firms cannot escape their responsibilities for the content on their platforms and must tackle content promoting fraud or scams. We would like to see the UK Government do much more to make people aware of the dangers of scams and fraud and how social media is used to target people.

"The SNP Scottish Government successfully got the UK Government to strengthen protections for children in its Online Safety Act and will continue to do so when it comes to making sure people are protected. We want to see the full enforcement of the Online Safety Act and prompt strengthening of these laws when required so the law can keep up with the fast moving world of tech.

"Within Scotland, the SNP Scottish Government has a ‘Scams prevention, awareness and enforcement strategy’ with specific actions to tackle scams focused on prevention and disruption, awareness and education, and enforcement."

Will you ensure the UK's fastest-growing debt – buy now, pay later – is regulated? Including...

Q Action to regulate buy now, pay later lenders has been delayed and, frankly, forgotten. What will you do to make sure that consumers have the same rights and protections, including the ability to complain to the ombudsman, that they have with other types of borrowing?

Swinney: "During the cost-of-living crisis, we know people have got into more debt and that can cause households to get trapped into spiralling debt.

"We need to see Westminster do much more to increase regulation of lending products and support for households who turn to them. We also need to ensure that consumers who have fallen into debt with Buy Now Pay Later products have the same rights as those who have borrowed from other lending products.

"Over the course of the last parliament, the SNP voted for an amendment to the Financial Services and Markets Act that would look to regulate buy now pay later credit services. However, the Tory Government voted against this measure, delaying action to regulate these products."

A question from the Money & Mental Health Policy Institute:

Q "Money and mental health problems are inextricably linked, and the pandemic and rising costs have left millions more people struggling with these issues. Integrating debt advice and NHS Talking Therapies would boost recovery rates, help more people into work, and save the government and the NHS money. Will you commit to joining up these services?"

Swinney: "The SNP has already taken action in this area.

"Worrying about money can make our mental health worse, and poor mental health can make earning and managing money harder. That’s why in government, the SNP has just passed new laws to provide further protections for people who are in debt and experiencing mental health problems.

"And we are also joining up services already focusing on providing advice services in trusted settings where people are more likely to visit.

"The SNP Scottish Government pioneered Welfare Advice and Health Partnerships that put dedicated advisers into 180 GP practices in some of Scotland’s most deprived and rural areas to reach those most in need. Last year we expanded this to introduce that service in places like schools, hospitals and mental health services.

"Last year we invested over £12 million to support income maximisation, welfare and debt advice services and estimate that more than 60,000 people were supported by Scottish government funded debt advice services. We know that early access to advice can make a difference to people’s financial situation and prevent issues – including debt – escalating."

Watch Ed Davey's 2-min MSE Leaders' Debate video answer, then read his answers for all topics.

Read full answers from Sir Ed Davey, Liberal Democrats
We asked:

What will you do about energy bills? Including...

Q You pay £330 a year in standing charges even before you use any energy. What will you do to bring them down?
Q Consumer energy bills are still significantly higher than what they were before the energy crisis. What will you do to lower them?
Q Will you introduce a social tariff for the vulnerable?
Q How will you help people to make their homes more efficient?

Davey: "While bills are falling, they are still at some of their highest levels for years. The next government needs to act to bring bills down.

"That’s why Liberal Democrats have pledged to launch an emergency Home Energy Upgrade programme, starting with free insulation and heat pumps for low-income households and a central role for local authorities in delivering this programme, as well as a rooftop solar revolution to bring down bills for consumers.

"We have also pledged to decouple electricity prices from the wholesale gas price and eliminate unfair regional differences in domestic energy bills.

"We would also introduce a social tariff for energy and water bills to provide targeted discounts for vulnerable households."

What will you do to help renters – some of the hardest hit by recent inflation? Including...

Q Will you finally end Section 21 'no-fault' evictions, which prevent some renters from challenging rent rises and complaining about conditions in their homes?
Q How will you protect renters from poor living standards?

Davey: "Renters have got a raw deal from this Conservative government; we’ve seen rents skyrocket and despite promises to protect renters, the Conservatives have failed to ban no fault evictions.

"Liberal Democrats would end no-fault evictions immediately, make longer tenancies the default and create a new national register of landlords to make the rented sector fairer for everybody.

"We would build 150,000 social homes a year by the end of the parliament.

"And we would also properly enforce standards of homes, particularly socially rented homes with time limits for repairs, and give proper recognition to tenant panels so that tenants have a strong voice in landlord governance."

Will you improve help for unpaid carers? Including...

Q Those on Carer's Allowance lose it all if they earn a penny over £151 a week – will you end this cliff-edge cut-off and taper the limit?
Q Will you increase the Carer's Allowance payment?
Q Will you help those who are being chased for huge back payments, even for just going pennies over?

Carrie from Hertfordshire: "I have had to reduce my working hours by three days a week to care for my elderly mother. I'm only earning £30 per week above the limit to claim Carer's Allowance but I can't reduce my hours at work any further. Unpaid carers save the government thousands, if not millions of pounds!"

Davey: "I’ve been a carer for much of my life – as a teenager, nursing my mum during her long battle against bone cancer; then for my wonderful Nanna; and now as a father, caring for my severely disabled son. I know how rewarding and full of love caring can be, but also how relentless and exhausting.

"For too long carers have been treated as an afterthought by this Conservative government. Thousands of carers are being shamefully hounded in the overpayments scandal, all because of the unfair cliff-edge for Carer’s Allowance and the DWP’s incompetence. The Liberal Democrats will fight for carers every day. Every vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote to fix the care crisis and give family carers a fair deal.

"We will:

Introduce an earnings taper to end the unfair cliff-edge.

Increase the Carer’s Allowance by £20 a week.

Stop pursuing carers for overpayments in Carer’s Allowance."

What will you do for the over-60s and WASPI women? Including...

Q Will you follow the recommendations of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and compensate women born in the 50s who have lost years of their state pension entitlement?

Davey: "Everyone deserves the chance of a comfortable retirement when the time comes.

"That’s why Liberal Democrats introduced the pension triple lock when in Government, to ensure fair increases in the state pension every year, and why we are committed to maintaining it, as well as improving pension helplines to ensure quicker responses to pension queries. We will also ensure that women born in the 1950s are finally treated fairly and properly compensated."

How will you help those with children and who need childcare? Including...

Q Will you shift the Child Benefit thresholds to household income to end the current 'higher earner' cut-off, which penalises single-earner and dominant-income families?
Q How will you ease the childcare crisis in the UK?

"I am worried about making ends meet on maternity pay, finding a space in a nursery is proving a nightmare and the cost of childcare when I return is also a major worry." MoneySaver who wants to remain anonymous.

Davey: "Millions of parents are being denied the choice to spend more time at home during that all-important first year with their child, because the UK still lags behind other countries on shared parental leave. Many mothers and fathers are being forced back to work early because they simply can’t afford to take more time off.

"The Liberal Democrats’ proposals would give new parents the choice and flexibility they need, backed up by a package of proper support. We would boost statutory pay for new parents, doubling Statutory Maternity and Shared Parental Pay to £350 a week, alongside a new ‘dad month’ to help more fathers take time off work to be with their new baby during that first year. And we’d introduce a ‘Toddler Top-Up’ - an enhanced rate of Child Benefit for one-year-olds.

"And we will ensure that all parents can access childcare that is flexible, affordable and fair by reviewing the rates paid to providers for free hours to ensure they cover the actual costs of delivering high-quality childcare and early years education."

How will you help mortgage holders and mortgage prisoners? Including...

Q How will you help those who have or soon will come off fixed-rate mortgages, who are faced with bill shocks and much higher costs?
Q Over 100,000 mortgage prisoners have been trapped on extortionate rates for 15 years after their loans were sold off by the state. Will you commit to enacting the suggestions put forward by the LSE (based on detailed research funded by Martin Lewis)?

Lydia from South Wales: "My mortgage doubled from £400 to £800 a month this year... me and my husband are both on good salaries... but every month we end up in our overdraft."

Davey: "The Conservatives have mismanaged the economy leading to spiking mortgage rates. Liberal Democrats would get mortgage rates back under control through careful economic management - unlike the Conservatives who have trashed the economy.

"We would carefully review the recommendations put forward by the LSE for 100,000 mortgage prisoners and ensure they get a fair resolution."

How will you help wannabe first-time buyers and those with Lifetime ISAs (LISAs)? Including...

Q What will you do to help first-time buyers get affordable mortgages and get on to the property ladder?
Q Will you scrap the penalty paid by those with LISAs who've been priced out and have to buy homes above the £450,000 LISA cap – or will you raise the cap?

Davey: "Liberal Democrats would help people who cannot afford a deposit to own their own homes by introducing a new Rent to Own model for social housing where rent payments give tenants an increasing stake in the property, owning it outright after 30 years.

"The LISA is a generous scheme to encourage people to save for a deposit with government help, but the cap is pricing people out of buying a property. We would look at increasing the cap on house prices to ensure people can use the money they’ve saved for its intended purpose."

Will you help students afford to live while at university? Including...

Q Student living support (the maintenance loan) has seen a substantial real-terms cut, especially for English students, threatening social mobility. How will you change this?
Q Are you looking to make other changes to student finance, including tuition fees?

Davey: "This Conservative Government has made student finance more and more regressive. They scrapped maintenance grants, cut the salary at which graduates start repaying their loans, and are devaluing arts courses at our internationally renowned universities.

"For most students, the cost of living is the most pressing concern. This is why Liberal Democrats would reinstate maintenance grants for disadvantaged students immediately to make sure that living costs are not a barrier to studying at university.

"We would also establish a review of higher education finance in the next Parliament to consider any necessary reforms in light of the latest evidence of the impact of the existing financing system on access, participation and quality, and make sure there is no more retrospective raising of rates or selling-off of loans to private companies."

What will you do to ensure insurance is affordable? Including...

Q Car insurance is compulsory, home insurance necessary, yet prices are up around 50% over the last year alone. Many people are being priced out, increasing the risk of more being uninsured. What will you do to help?
Q Many people with pre-existing physical and mental health conditions are penalised and priced out of going on holiday. What will you do to help?

Davey: "The rise of insurance prices has added yet more pressure during this cost-of-living crisis, and we will take action to protect people from unfair insurance prices. We would introduce a national financial inclusion strategy."

Will you change the council tax system and help stop increases? Including...

Q The band most homes in England and Scotland are in is still dictated by a stopgap, 2^nd gear, drive-by valuation from 1991 (2003 in Wales). Around 400,000 homes are in the wrong band, and they are moving further away from any semblance of reality of house prices. Will you reform or re-band?
Q Will you ensure that the severely mentally impaired council tax discount is prominently publicised across councils, made easier to claim, and has standardised backdating rules?

Davey: "Liberal Democrats will not undertake a council tax revaluation, but under our plans we will provide much greater support to local authorities. We have already pledged to replace business rates with a Commercial Landowner Levy to help our high streets.

"We will give local authorities the ability to increase council tax by up to 500% on newly bought second homes, with a stamp duty surcharge on overseas residents purchasing such properties. This would help reduce pressures on local authority finances in places that are dealing with housing shortages due to the proliferation of AirBnBs and similar accommodation.

"We support greater promotion of council tax discounts and will support local authorities in standardising rules and making it easier to claim."

What will you do about household budgets and food costs? Including...

Q More than half of people who go to Citizens Advice for help are in a deficit budget – meaning their income is not enough to cover their essential costs even after money advice. How will you address this desperate situation?
Q Food prices are still nearly 27% higher than three years ago. What will you do to take action on the cost of food?

Megan from Orpington: "The prices for food are going up and up every month and more and more are struggling just to get their essentials for their own household meals."

Davey: "Countless families are struggling with the sky-high cost of food, so we are dedicated to introducing a new National Food Strategy to tackle rising food prices.

"This would include investing an additional £1 billion a year in UK farmers to support profitable, sustainable and nature-friendly farming and enable lower production costs to be passed onto consumers.

"Liberal Democrats will also expand free school meals to all children in poverty, with an ambition of expanding them to all primary school children when public finances allow. We will also end the two-child limit – the fastest, most cost-effective way to take hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty."

How will you tackle the epidemic of fraud, scams and the social media Wild West? Including...

Q It's thought nearly 17% of all UK crimes start on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, yet scam adverts and posts still appear with near impunity. The Online Safety Act is in, but not in effect, and the Online Advertising programme is nowhere to be seen – meaning most of the online advertising market isn't covered. What will you do?
Q "Fraud is increasing and now makes up 40% of all crime. How will you prioritise its prevention and detection?" David in Heage.

Davey: "We know that today, so much crime takes place online - but the Conservatives have totally failed to respond. Too often, local forces don’t have the specialist skills, resources, or even the time they need to stop and solve online crime.

"Liberal Democrats would create a new Online Crime Agency to effectively tackle illegal content and activity online, including personal fraud, coordinating work across the UK, and recognising that perpetrators and victims of online crime can be based in entirely different parts of the country.

"Liberal Democrats have a clear plan to tackle fraud - starting with prevention. That’s why we are committed to launching a high-profile public awareness campaign to help people spot, avoid and report frauds and scams.

"We will also implement plans to require banks to reimburse victims of authorised push payment scams unless there is clear evidence that they are at fault, and make sure the public gets the transparency it deserves on banks’ ability to prevent fraud through naming and shaming of the banks with the worst record of preventing fraud and reimbursing victims."

Will you ensure the UK's fastest-growing debt – buy now, pay later – is regulated? Including...

Q Action to regulate buy now, pay later lenders has been delayed and, frankly, forgotten. What will you do to make sure that consumers have the same rights and protections, including the ability to complain to the ombudsman, that they have with other types of borrowing?

Davey: "The Conservative Government’s failure to properly support people with the cost of living crisis and to regulate Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) has left millions exposed to financial harm.

"We will put in place clear rules and safeguards to ensure consumers are protected. We would look at measures such as bringing BNPL under ‘consumer duty’ rules for financial products, which require that key information is clearly set out; requiring that fair and consistent support is available to all BNPL users who need it, including access to the Financial Ombudsman Service; and bringing BNPL debt collection practises in line with industry standards."

A question from the Money & Mental Health Policy Institute:

Q "Money and mental health problems are inextricably linked, and the pandemic and rising costs have left millions more people struggling with these issues. Integrating debt advice and NHS Talking Therapies would boost recovery rates, help more people into work, and save the governmen

General Election 2024: The MSE Leaders' Debate

Sunak, Starmer, Swinney, Davey, ap Iorwerth, Ramsay and Farage tell us what they'd do about energy bills, council tax, Carer's Allowance and more

You can read the debate in two ways

Full topic-by-topic answers

What will you do about energy bills? Including...

What will you do to help renters – some of the hardest hit by recent inflation? Including...

Will you improve help for unpaid carers? Including...

What will you do for the over-60s and WASPI women? Including...

How will you help those with children and who need childcare? Including...

How will you help mortgage holders and mortgage prisoners? Including...

How will you help wannabe first-time buyers and those with Lifetime ISAs (LISAs)? Including...

Will you help students afford to live while at university? Including...

What will you do to ensure insurance is affordable? Including...

Will you change the council tax system and help stop increases? Including...

What will you do about household budgets and food costs? Including...

How will you tackle the epidemic of fraud, scams and the social media Wild West? Including...

Will you ensure the UK's fastest-growing debt – buy now, pay later – is regulated? Including...

A question from the Money & Mental Health Policy Institute:

Leader-by-leader, including video

What will you do about energy bills? Including...

What will you do to help renters – some of the hardest hit by recent inflation? Including...

Will you improve help for unpaid carers? Including...

What will you do for the over-60s and WASPI women? Including...

How will you help those with children and who need childcare? Including...

How will you help mortgage holders and mortgage prisoners? Including...

How will you help wannabe first-time buyers and those with Lifetime ISAs (LISAs)? Including...

Will you help students afford to live while at university? Including...

What will you do to ensure insurance is affordable? Including...

Will you change the council tax system and help stop increases? Including...

What will you do about household budgets and food costs? Including...

How will you tackle the epidemic of fraud, scams and the social media Wild West? Including...

Will you ensure the UK's fastest-growing debt – buy now, pay later – is regulated? Including...

A question from the Money & Mental Health Policy Institute:

What will you do about energy bills? Including...

What will you do to help renters – some of the hardest hit by recent inflation? Including...

Will you improve help for unpaid carers? Including...

What will you do for the over-60s and WASPI women? Including...

How will you help those with children and who need childcare? Including...

How will you help mortgage holders and mortgage prisoners? Including...

How will you help wannabe first-time buyers and those with Lifetime ISAs (LISAs)? Including...

Will you help students afford to live while at university? Including...

What will you do to ensure insurance is affordable? Including...

Will you change the council tax system and help stop increases? Including...

What will you do about household budgets and food costs? Including...

How will you tackle the epidemic of fraud, scams and the social media Wild West? Including...

Will you ensure the UK's fastest-growing debt – buy now, pay later – is regulated? Including...

A question from the Money & Mental Health Policy Institute:

What will you do about energy bills? Including...

What will you do to help renters – some of the hardest hit by recent inflation? Including:

Will you improve help for unpaid carers? Including...

What will you do for the over-60s and WASPI women? Including...

How will you help those with children and who need childcare? Including...

How will you help mortgage holders and mortgage prisoners? Including...

How will you help wannabe first-time buyers and those with Lifetime ISAs (LISAs)? Including...

Will you help students afford to live while at university? Including...

What will you do to ensure insurance is affordable? Including...

Will you change the council tax system and help stop increases? Including...

What will you do about household budgets and food costs? Including...

How will you tackle the epidemic of fraud, scams and the social media Wild West? Including...

Will you ensure the UK's fastest-growing debt – buy now, pay later – is regulated? Including...

A question from the Money & Mental Health Policy Institute:

What will you do about energy bills? Including...

What will you do to help renters – some of the hardest hit by recent inflation? Including...

Will you improve help for unpaid carers? Including...

What will you do for the over-60s and WASPI women? Including...

How will you help those with children and who need childcare? Including...

How will you help mortgage holders and mortgage prisoners? Including...

How will you help wannabe first-time buyers and those with Lifetime ISAs (LISAs)? Including...

Will you help students afford to live while at university? Including...

What will you do to ensure insurance is affordable? Including...

Will you change the council tax system and help stop increases? Including...

What will you do about household budgets and food costs? Including...

How will you tackle the epidemic of fraud, scams and the social media Wild West? Including...

Will you ensure the UK's fastest-growing debt – buy now, pay later – is regulated? Including...

A question from the Money & Mental Health Policy Institute: