Cable cautious over recovery

Business Secretary Vince Cable has warned that the Government need to think "very, very carefully" about extending its house purchase scheme.

There are fears that the housing market could overheat if the second part of the 'Help to Buy' - which provides government guarantees for low-deposit mortgages - goes ahead quickly.

However the housing market is beginning to reap the rewards of the scheme as ITV News Business Editor Laura Kuenssberg reports:

Business Secretary Vince Cable has called for a rethink of Chancellor George Osborne's flagship Help to Buy scheme amid fears of a new housing market bubble.

Mr Cable questioned whether the second part of the scheme - providing government guarantees for low-deposit mortgages - should go ahead as planned in January.

"We should certainly think about how it should come into effect, indeed whether it should come into effect, in the light of changing market conditions. We don't want a new housing bubble," he told Sky News.

Barratt housebuilders records 73% profit jump

"I think George Osborne got the tone exactly right when he spoke the other day," Vince Cable told Radio 4's Today programme.

But he stressed that Britain's economy remained in a critical phase.

"The reactions to the news over the last few weeks somehow suggest that we are out of this long, dark tunnel," Mr Cable said.

"I don't want the public debate about this to become obsessive about a few weeks' data, when what really matters is the long-term change we're trying to achieve, getting Britain more outward looking, avoiding a return to the boom-bust psychology."

Shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna said Business Secretary Vince Cable's warning on the economy recovery are an "embarrassing slap-down" to Chancellor George Osborne.

Read: Cable issues warning on strength of economic recovery

Mr Umunna stressed that the Liberal Democrats could not distance themselves from the Chancellor's economic strategy. He said:

"It also reminds everyone that you can't trust a word the Lib Dems say. Vince Cable has supported the Chancellor's policies which choked off the recovery in 2010.

"Three wasted years of flatlining that has left families worse off and done long term damage to our economy is his record and he should take responsibility for it."

Business Secretary Vince Cable is to warn of the dangers of complacency by ministers and business leaders to the long term recovery to the UK economy.

In a speech this morning he will highlight the risks of the housing market "getting out of control", echoing critics of Mr Osborne who have warned that his Help to Buy Scheme could create a new property market bubble.

Read: Help to Buy scheme will 'drive house prices up' and reverse intended effect

Business Secretary Vince Cable will sound a warning over the dangers of "complacency" over Britain's economic recovery, insisting recent more positive economic forecasts are no reason to "rest on our laurels."

Just two days after Osborne declared the economy was finally "turning a corner" Cable will tell business leaders assembled at a joint Government/CBI industrial strategy conference at Warwick University that "a few quarters of good economic data" does not mean the economic recovery is guaranteed.

Read: Chancellor declares economy is 'turning a corner'