£13bn of mortgage assets to be sold, announces Chancellor
The Chancellor George Osborne has announced mortgage assets still held from the bailouts of Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley will be sold at a value of £13 billion.
The move will help to pay down national debt and puts 'economic security first', says the Chancellor.
He also announced that Lloyds Bank assets worth £9 billion are also being sold, adding that this wouldn't be treated as 'a windfall'.
He added:
"We could treat it as a windfall, even though we know the public finances need further repair. And with an election looming, some of my immediate predecessors may have been tempted to do this. But that would be deeply irresponsible.
"So today, the central judgement of this Budget is this: we will use the resources from the bank sales and the lower interest payments and the lower welfare bills to pay down the national debt."
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