Ministers have been out in force today to trumpet the many virtues of a bit of market meddling also known as Help to Buy, with the details of the second phase of the scheme launched today by George Osborne. Even Mark Prisk, nicknamed by some Tory colleagues as the Invisible Minister, made it onto the World at One to argue that the scheme wouldn’t create a house price bubble because the government was doing enough to increase the supply of housing.
Whether or not you believe this depends on whether you truly think the planning reforms have given local people more choice and have liberalised the system, or whether they'll simply antagonise communities without increasing the number of homes.
Prisk's colleague Sajid Javid wanted to talk about the proof this scheme offers that 'this government unashamedly backs aspiration'.
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