Clegg’s fightback – pension pots to fund way onto property ladder

The Liberal Democrat leader said parents who have saved lump sums worth several thousand pounds or more could use the money as a guarantee so their children can borrow the deposits they need to buy their first home.

The announcement marks the beginning of a concerted effort this week by Mr Clegg and his fellow Ministers to convince both the party grassroots and the wider public that their time in Government is proving worthwhile.

Speaking at his party’s autumn conference in Brighton, Lib Dem Business Secretary Vince Cable will today claim victory over Chancellor George Osborne with the announcement of plans for a £1bn British Business Bank that will help push much-needed loans through to small and medium-sized businesses.

Mr Clegg’s leadership of the Lib Dems is being increasingly questioned and last week he felt compelled to issue a video apology for his broken pledge on tuition fees.

But in what aides insisted was a “serious policy announcement”, he yesterday unveiled proposals to allow parents to use their pension pots to help their children find a housing deposit.

“We have thousands of young people who are desperate to get their feet on the first rung of the property ladder, but deposits have doubled,” the Sheffield Hallam MP said.

“So I can announce today that the Government is going to do something that hasn’t happened before – we are going to work out ways in which parents and grandparents who want to help their children and grandchildren buy a property of their own. It is a pension from property scheme.”