In recent weeks, Ministers have set out new measures to help people struggling with the cost of living – including free bus travel for children and targeted reductions in food tariffs. But the Financial Services and Markets Bill that has recently been laid before Parliament points in a very different, and concerning, direction. Clause 8 of the Bill would upend vital protections for borrowers, and we call for it to be scrapped.

Calls for deregulation are ignoring the lessons of the past. In this blog we draw on our recent response to the FCA and FOS joint call for input concerning 'mass redress' events to highlight how a lack of clear rules and (de)regulatory 'sludge' combine to cause widespread consumer harm. We need better regulation not deregulation to support 'growth without consumer exploitation'.