The Prime Minister (PM) has defended the government’s Help to Buy initiative at the Conservative Party conference.

David Cameron told the BBC that the scheme is needed to support the country’s economy following previous failures in the “banking market”, as opposed to the UK’s “housing market”.

The PM – who addresses his peers in Manchester on the last day of the party conference today (October 2nd) – says Help to Buy is different to previous situations where the country has seen a market book as it does not permit self-certified mortgages or mortgages of over 95 per cent.

Under the programme, people wanting to purchase a property which is worth under £600,000 could be eligible for a loan of up to 95 per cent of its value – with the government guaranteeing 15 per cent of the borrowing.

Mr Cameron said to the BBC: “I don’t want to be the prime minister who stands aside and says you can only buy a flat or a house if you’ve got rich parents.”

He also added that the mortgage market as it stood today “was not working”.