LATEST BANKRUPTCY FIGURES SHOULD RING ALARM BELLS WITH CHANCELLOR - LYNNE

11.41.21am UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 8th Nov 2005

The Government has released new figures which show an increase on last year in individual insolvencies of 46%, and an increase of 33% in bankruptcy petitions. Analysis of the figures by the Liberal Democrats show that in England and Wales an individual becomes insolvent every 7 minutes, and a bankruptcy petition is filed every 9 minutes.

Commenting, Liz Lynne, Liberal Democrat MEP for the West Midlands, said:

"This is more evidence that high levels of personal debt are leading many people into financial difficulty and in extreme cases into bankruptcy.

"Despite bland reassurances to the contrary from the Government, personal debt is clearly an issue for many thousands of people.

"There is currently a considerable degree of irresponsible lending and aggressive marketing to individuals which leads to people taking on more debt. Lenders have an obligation to stop these practises and to provide greater levels of debt advice.

"The Government should be actively working with the financial services industry to achieve a national roll out of independent advice centres, to provide people with early access to financial health checks before they get into a crisis situation."

ENDS.

Notes to editors:

1) DTI figures show a rise in individual insolvencies from 12,032 in Q3 2004 to 17,562 in Q3 2005

2) DCA figures show a rise in bankruptcy petitions from 10,881 in Q3 2004 to 14,505 in Q3 2005