My credit card debt, by Yorkshire Tory MP

Andrew Percy said he was paying £600 a month to clear his credit cards after getting into financial trouble at university.

The Brigg and Goole MP, who attended the University of York before teaching in Hull and Scunthorpe, said he had rolled his card debts into a loan since being elected last May.

He made the frank admission during a debate on high cost credit lending, in which Labour urged the Government to carry out a review of the industry.

Mr Percy said: “I’ve never personally had to borrow from a high cost credit company but I have most certainly understood the issue of debt, to the tunes of tens of thousands of pounds.

“Credit card debt, in my particular case, and I’m not alone in that.

“It’s something that started with me at university and I did go down the line of paying one credit card off by transferring it to another on 0% for a year, or however many months, and then conveniently forgetting about that and maxing out the other one that I’d just cleared.

“To the tune that I now pay about £600 a month to clear off all of my credit cards which I’ve had to roll into a loan since my election.

“So I understand what debt is like and I know how the whole thing, once you’re on the conveyor belt, it’s very difficult to get off.”

He said his constituency office staff were being trained in debt management so they were able to point concerned local residents to the best advice available.