i Editor's Letter: Osborne's Help to Buy plan and its many frailties

You can see the appeal for George Osborne. Attach jump leads to the housing market in the hope that it kickstarts home building – and precious economic growth. His previous attempt this year worked: offering state loans for new-build homes has helped to boost mortgage lending to a 17-month high.

Then there are the millions of people trapped into renting well into their 30s, 40s and beyond – it’s crushing when the landlord takes your disposable income each month, the day after payday. So this is a tantalising offer, ahead of a general election: own a home, with just a 5 per cent deposit.

The Chancellor is gambling, though, with his ambitious Help to Buy plan, part-guaranteeing £130bn of low-deposit mortgages. He could create demand without supply, raise house prices, wrest home ownership even further from the reach of Generation Rent, and create a new bubble. More needs to be done, too, to stop buy-to-let landlords taking advantage.

Mr Osborne needs to be clear about the Government’s exit strategy from Help to Buy, lest the housing market become hooked on state aid and prices then plummet, with devastating consequences for those trapped in negative equity. Good luck to him.

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And so the world stepladder convention draws to a close. The wounded can once again reach St Mary’s A&E without impediment from Japanese broadcasters. The hot rain stopped, and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge finally got their glimpse of Kay Burley in person. Prince X slept rather than squawked his way through the brief walkabout. Now they can all go and live quietly in Kensington Palace, away from the glare of the global media...

i@independent.co.uk

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