§ Mr. Stallardasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the number of elderly people with current mortgages who will lose entitlement to age allowance following the introduction of the new system for tax relief on mortgage interest payments, since they will no longer be able to offset mortgage interest against their income.
§ Mr. Ridley[pursuant to his reply, 24 January 1983, c. 285]: The entitlement of elderly people with mortgages to age allowance will not be adversely affected by the introduction of the new administrative arrangements for giving tax relief on mortgage interest, and indeed some elderly people should benefit from the change. Payments of mortgage interest before the deduction of tax relief will continue to be taken into account in calculating the figure of income on which entitlement to age allowance is based.