The Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for South Cambs has slammed the Government's mini-budget and its impact on mortgage rates.

More than 21,000 mortgage borrowers in South Cambs are expected to be hit by a "monster" mortgage rate over the coming months, due to the predicted rise in interest rates.

Prospective parliamentary candidate Pippa Heylings said: “Local homeowners have been betrayed by an out of touch Conservative Government.

"In her first budget as Prime Minister, Liz Truss has chosen unfunded tax cuts for big banks which have sent the financial markets into turmoil. It is now mortgage payers in South Cambridgeshire who are left to pick up the tab. The country is sick of Conservative governments lurching from one crisis to another.

“People on the doorstep are telling me that they are scared by this upcoming interest rate rise. Many simply don’t know how they’ll afford to pay thousands of pounds more a year for mortgage repayments, especially in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis."

In South Cambs, 31 per cent of homes are owned with a mortgage, which is three per cent higher than the national average of 23 per cent.

Following the mini-budget on September 23, the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng abandoned their policy to abolish the 45 per cent top rate of income tax.

The Liberal Democrats are calling on Liz Truss to recall Parliament and amend the budget, which has crashed the pound and seen a spike in national debt, as well as leading to an increase in mortgage interest rates.

The fallout from the mini-budget is expected to force the Bank of England to raise interest rates to as much as five per cent next year, costing the average mortgage borrower on a standard variable rate an extra £2,100 per year.

Pippa added: “Liz Truss owes local people an apology for this shambolic budget. Parliament must be recalled to fix this budget before it’s too late. This government’s experiment has clearly failed, and people in South Cambs and across the country are paying the price.”

Conservative MP for South Cambs Anthony Browne declined to comment.