Couple's surprise visit from PM

The couple told the prime minister that there were few available jobs in York

A couple who quizzed Gordon Brown about the problems faced by young families in the recession have talked to him about how they are coping six months on.

Chris and Sarah Charlton, from York, were picked out by GMTV last autumn to interview the prime minister at 10 Downing Street.

The couple told him how they had been affected by rising mortgage costs.

In a surprise visit to the pair's home, Mr Brown heard they were faring better, but were worried about job security.

The couple, of Leeman Road, who have a two-year-old daughter Kairen, said they were not told about the visit until Wednesday night.

'Difficult times'

Mr Charlton, 31, said: "He promised when we interviewed him six months ago that he'd catch up with us in six months time and true to his word he has.

"We talked about how things feel for us at the moment compared to six months ago. From our point of view things feel slightly better in terms of our mortgage payments going down.

"We also talked to him about not feeling as secure in employment around York. There's very few jobs about.

"We consider ourselves very lucky if we can stick in work through these difficult times."

GMTV was not involved in the visit and the media was not invited but Mr Brown told the BBC later that the Charltons were a "very nice" family.

He said: "I wanted to hear from them how they were doing.

"Obviously the economy's going through a pattern of change and I wanted to know that things were getting better for them and some of their worries about their mortgage and everything had been alleviated."