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Business Secretary Vince Cable has said the government should consider revising the Help to Buy scheme to curb the "raging housing boom".

He also suggested the Bank of England may need to raise interest rates to stop the booming London and South-East from running out of control.

Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr show, Cable said the rapid change in the fortunes of the housing market means Help to Buy may need to be reconsidered.

"We certainly need to look at that scheme again. It was conceived in very different circumstances."

He noted that ratings agency Standard and Poor's, which gives the UK its top AAA credit rating, is "expressing worries" on the impact of Help to Buy.

This isn't the first time Cable has attacked Help to Buy. In September, he suggested the second phase of the scheme should be scrapped.

Yesterday he also warned of the danger of the Bank of England failing to raise interest rates.

He said a rate hike may be needed to douse the "raging housing boom" in London and the South-East.

Cable also warned that failure to curb rising prices could squeeze more ordinary Britons out of the housing market.

Unless action is taken, the boom in house prices could get "out of control" until the "only people who can afford to live in large parts of London are foreigners and bankers".

Yet many property analysts have denied that Help to Buy is intensifying price rises in London and the South East, pointing out that most mortgages arranged under the scheme are for properties outside these boom areas.

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