DEE Doocey, the Liberal Democrat GLA candidate for SW London has warned that Londoners are taking on a debt mountain, and that things look set to get a lot worse.

"For some reason the Government does not regard mounting debt as a problem, and yet as a direct result of their policies, more and more people are being forced into debt.

"Blair's top-up fees will force students into deeper and greater debt at the time when student debt has already reached crisis proportion. The scale of the issue is shown by the fact that three times more students wrote off student loans by declaring themselves bankrupt in 2003 than in 2002.

"The Government is now proposing to ensure that even if students become bankrupt their student loans will not be written off!"

"Brown is washing his hands as the British people mount up debts which will total a staggering £1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion Pounds Sterling) by this summer. Collectively, we owe banks and other creditors as much as the total external debt of Africa, Asia and Latin America put together. This is a scandal. When interest rates go up (as they have already started to do), millions of families will find themselves in serious trouble. The pawnbrokers will be beside themselves with glee.

"Chancellor Gordon Brown should take responsibility for reining in irresponsible lending on mortgages, personal loans and hire-purchase deals."

The Student Loans Company says that 899 filed for bankruptcy last year, compared with 276 in 2002, 249 in 2001, 97 in 1998 and eight in 1992.