With a 2015 election in mind, Britain's Conservative government is pushing the plan as a way to help people move onto, or up, the property ladder, with the knock-on effect of stimulating growth after three-years of economic stagnation.
Lawmaker Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the Treasury Select Committee which scrutinises the finance ministry, wrote a sharply-worded letter to Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, asking him to clarify central bank's role in overseeing the programme and how its independence would be safeguarded.