A Conservative MP on a £74,000 salary has admitted to moving back in with his parents because the housing crisis means he cannot get together a deposit to buy his own place.
Twenty-eight-year-old William Wragg has had to move back to his parents’ suburban semi-detached home in Manchester, blaming the brutal cost of renting for being unable to get enough money in the bank.
The revelation came as Jeremy Corbyn accused David Cameron at Prime Minister’s Questions of overseeing "a very damaging housing crisis".
With the basic MP’s salary of £74,000 being around three times the average salary of around £26,000 a year, the MP admits he is “extremely well-paid” but claims to be part of the “boomerang generation” that has seen a quarter of all adults aged between 20 and 34 living with their parents.
The MP, elected in May to represent Hazel Grove in Greater Manchester, told the Granada Debate show on ITV: “In a few years hopefully I will have saved up enough for a deposit.
“I know exactly what it is like. I have complete empathy with people in that position.”
William Wragg on Granada Debate: "When I think how much I spent on rent in a flat instead of a mortgage, I think maybe I made the wrong choice."
The University of Manchester graduate qualified as a primary school teacher in 2014 under the Teach First scheme to attract top graduates into teaching, but could only afford a rented flat.
“When I think how much I spent on rent in a flat instead of a mortgage, I think maybe I made the wrong choice,” he said.
Parliamentary rules permit only expenses to be spent on renting a second home in London, and pay for their main residence themselves.
Labour housing spokesman John Healey said: “He is part of a generation for whom home ownership is in freefall. This is a generation of people who are often on good middle incomes but who still find the dream of home ownership is out of reach.”
Jeremy Corbyn at Prime Minister's Questions: "Millions are struggling to get the home they deserve."
Mr Corbyn used all six of his questions at PMQs on housing, arguing people were being priced out of the market because of a lack of affordable homes.
"Millions are struggling to get the home they deserve," he told the Commons.
Mr Cameron contended that more council houses had been built under his Government in the past five years than during Labour's 13 years in power.
He said an £8bn housing budget would provide 400,000 more affordable homes, and said the Government was committed to building one million homes by 2020.