'You've never had it so good' gaffe costs Cameron adviser his job

The Tory peer, a senior adviser to David Cameron, resigned after he suggested low interest rates meant homeowners were better off thanks to the recession.

Today, Jon Trickett, shadow Cabinet Office minister, described Lord Young's comments as "outrageous" and demanded a minister explain the resignation to the House of Commons.

Raising a point of order with deputy speaker Dawn Primarolo, Mr Trickett said: "I now understand that he (Lord Young) has now been forced to resign or maybe even sacked.

"Can you now ensure a minister does appear before this despatch box this afternoon to explain what has happened to the shambles of the Government's enterprise policy given what has happened today?"

The deputy speaker said she had no power to force a minister to come to the Commons to explain the resignation but added his comments had been recorded.

In an earlier point of order, Labour former minister Huw Irranca-Davies described the comments by Lord Young as "crass and insensitive".

The interventions came after Lord Young gave an interview to the Daily Telegraph in which he said the Bank of England's decision to cut base rates to a record low of 0.5% since March 2009 had left many homeowners up to 600 a month better off.

And he said swingeing Government cuts, totalling more than 80 billion over four years, would only take state spending back to the levels of 2007, when people were not "short of money".

People will look back and "wonder what all the fuss was about", predicted Lord Young - Trade and Industry Secretary in Margaret Thatcher's administration.

Last night, a spokesman for Mr Cameron said the Prime Minister was "very unimpressed" by the peer, whom he appointed as his enterprise adviser earlier this month.