James Ashton: Help to Buy - doing what it says on the tin

Let today’s Help to Buy figures finally kill the canard that this scheme is in any way responsible for London’s red-hot property market.

Would that buyers stretching themselves to afford a four-bedroom family home in Putney could fall back on a state guarantee for part of their loan.

Instead, Help to Buy is doing what it said it would at the bottom of the property ladder: helping first-timers, many miles away from the capital.

London’s property scene is driven at the top end by foreign cash buyers and in the middle by a shortage of supply.

Mark Carney wasn’t breaking any confidences when he said last week that the way to solve that was to get building again.

But while the debate over housing dominates, more attention should be given to the crisis in small-business lending. Innovative entrepreneurs will always be able to find finance for good ideas.

Many turn to friends and family, or increasingly crowd-sourcing platforms. What is surprising is that our banks, with the financial might of the Bank of England behind them, still appear to be failing these people.