Argument was that in many places rented property was the norm - not just for 'social housing' but across society.
Which is true e.g. in a lot of continental Europe, but in most of those places the rental market is significantly different to the UK: longer, assured tenancies; no eviction/lease being terminated without good reason; and greater prevalence of unfurnished rentals. This gives renters much greater stability and allows them to make the property more like a home with their own furniture and (within the terms of the lease) fittings. (Actually, a good number of the middle class families who rent flats in town do actually own or have access to a property out in the country somewhere, often an ancestral home rather than a "holiday cottage" as we tend to think of them.)
Anyway, what happened to Thatcher's dream of a "property owning democracy"?
I use my credit card to buy groceries- going to try to stop!
Nothing wrong with doing that IMO (it's what I do), so long as you have a DD in place to pay it off every month (as I do*). If you can't pay it off before it starts accruing interest then credit card debt is pretty much the most expensive kind (except see below) and to be avoided at all costs. For purchases that you know you won't be able to pay off within ~six weeks then a personal loan, or better still a 0% credit card, is much cheaper.
So we benefit in one way but of course deliver VAT back the other way to help Kwasi Kwarteng balance his books!
You'd pay VAT whichever way you chose to finance the job.
P.S. Thanks for the reminder about the Energy Saving Trust. Can't immediately see anything on their web site about interest free loans, though - am I missing something?
* Because I get better perks - points/cashback - on my CC than I do on my debit card. Also, it doesn't hurt to have a history of reliably paying off CC debt on time.
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