Conservative MP moves home with his parents 'to save up for mortgage' despite £74,000 salary
'In a few years hopefully I will have just saved up enough for a deposit,' William Wragg said
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A Conservative MP has said he moved back in with his parents to save up for a mortgage, despite earning a basic salary of £74,000 a year.
William Wragg, 28, won Manchester’s Hazel Grove constituency in the last election after previously working as a primary school teacher and caseworker for another MP.
Appearing to discuss the national housing crisis on ITV’s Granada Debate programme, he described himself as part of the “boomerang generation” returning to their family homes after renting.
“In a few years hopefully I will have just saved up enough for a deposit,” he said.
“I know exactly what it is like. I have complete empathy with people in that position…it’s not wage related but even to save the deposit will take a number of years.”
He said he previously “spent a fortune” on rent and questioned whether he would now make the same decision.
When presenter Alison Mackenzie asked him to confirm he had gone back to his parents’ home to save for a mortgage, he replied: “Indeed, yeah.”
Mr Wragg, who attended a comprehensive secondary school in Poynton, Cheshire, before studying history at Manchester University, qualified as a primary school teacher but left months after starting work to become a case worker for an MP.
He is now paid £74,000 a year – almost three times the national average – and is also entitled to expenses for a second home, running his office, employing staff and travel.
“I’m paid extremely well, don’t get me wrong,” Mr Wragg said.
London prices are frequently cited as the benchmark for the housing crisis but he and other panel members said a “whole generation” was now being priced out in the North West as well.
Jeremy Corbyn challenged David Cameron on the issue today at Prime Minister’s question time.
Using all six questions on the topic, the Opposition leader accused the current Government of overseeing a “very damaging” crisis making millions “struggle to get the home they deserve”.
Mr Cameron claimed that more council houses had been built under his watch in the past five years than during Labour's 13 years in power.
He told the Commons an £8 billion housing budget would provide 400,000 more affordable homes, and said the government was committed to building one million homes by 2020.
The debate came after research by Shelter revealed that almost half a million private rented homes in England suffer from mice and cockroach infestations, as well as damp, mould and other “appalling” conditions.
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