Vince Cable, the former Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and MP for Twickenham will be speaking at the Association of Short Term Lender’s (ASTL) 2015 annual conference.

The event will take place on 1 October at Painters’ Hall in the City of London.

The conference is open to all lenders, intermediaries, financial advisers, bankers, solicitors and surveyors, plus anyone else interested in the short term lending market.

Benson Hersch, chief executive of the ASTL, said: “The bridging industry is experiencing continuing growth and continues to outperform the mortgage industry as a whole. It gives us great pleasure to present a prominent spokesperson like Vince Cable at our annual conference to provide his perceptive views on the economy in guiding our members moving forward.

“The conference will outline the problems associated with bridging and explore the solutions that will allow our members to overcome these challenges.”