"I haven't spoken to a single client who voted for their mortgages to become unaffordable, house prices to fall and tax cuts for the richest."
PR platform, Newspage, has now asked brokers if they agree that the Chancellor should go.
Lewis Shaw, founder and mortgage expert at Shaw Financial Services: "We don't need the Chancellor to quit, we need a General Election. I haven't spoken to a single client who voted for their mortgages to become unaffordable, house prices to fall and tax cuts for the richest. Sacking the Chancellor would be urinating in the breeze. We've now had over a decade of Tory incompetence. First, they gave us austerity, then it was the calamity of Brexit, next came the scandals of Covid-19, followed swiftly by a cost of living crisis, and now they've torpedoed our economy. It's been a cacophony of cock-ups for twelve years, and at each stage, it's been the poorest and most vulnerable that have paid the price. During Wednesday's PMQs, Liz Truss stood up and said she had delivered on keeping energy bills down from the predicted one-off £5,000 they might have risen to. Unfortunately, she failed to mention that due to their economic illiteracy, most people will end up paying an additional £24,000 over the next five years for their mortgages. Data shows that mortgage repayments, as a percentage of income, are near the peak level we saw in the 80s and early 90s, precipitating the biggest house price crash in modern times. As a nation, we cannot afford to have these people in charge anymore. Enough is enough. They have to go. Now."
Mike Staton, director at Staton Mortgages: "Should the Chancellor quit? Hell Yes. We work in one of the most heavily regulated industries where one small mistake could cost us our careers. Meanwhile, the mini-Budget was a wreckless act, seemingly done without any thought given to the public or economy. This government have singlehandedly caused the biggest financial catastrophe since the Global Economic Crisis. Why shouldn't they be held accountable?"
Graham Cox, director at Self Employed Mortgage Hub: "Kwarteng should definitely resign, as should Truss. In their cavalier and over-zealous attempt to make good on Truss's hustings promises, they've made a bad economic situation even worse. And just to rub salt in the wound, Truss continues to insult the electorate's intelligence by banging on about the energy crisis help, yet completely ignoring the fact that mortgage borrowers now need to stump up thousands of pounds extra thanks to her incompetence. She's basically replaced one financial emergency with another. It really feels like we're in the last dog days of this woeful administration. It's time for a General Election."
Rob Gill, managing director at Altura Mortgage Finance: "The markets have firmly rejected the mini-Budget and, as a certain woman once said, “You can’t buck the markets”. With the Bank of England concluding they’re no longer prepared to try, we’re reaching the stage where the Chancellor needs to perform so many U-turns that resigning looks a more honourable option."
Craig Fish, founder and director at Lodestone: "There is a huge question mark hanging over Liz Truss and the Chancellor following the mini-Budget, because it seems that neither of them wish to acknowledge that they are one of the main causes of the turmoil that has unfolded since. Many people are calling for a General Election, not just for the Chancellor to quit. But my opinion is that a general election will cause further uncertainty and turmoil. At the very least Kwasi needs to go, and the Conservative party need to find a more suitable Chancellor. I didn't think I'd ever find myself saying this but, "Rishi, where are you?"."
Mark Robinson, managing director at Albion Forest Mortgages: "The problem isn't the Chancellor, it's the entire government. We need a complete reshuffle. At this point a general election shouldn't just be a possible solution, it is the only one. If the Chancellor left, another one of similar competence would likely just fill the void. The current government has no focus, and is completely out of touch with the population it supposedly governs."
David Robinson, co-founder at Wildcat Law: "The one thing worse than a bad policy is to have no discernible policy or plan at all, and unfortunately that is the current situation with the Chancellor. Changing him now, however, would only invite even more uncertainty and that is something that the markets and Sterling cannot afford. Instead, perhaps a period of limited exposure to the press and let others run the economy who actually have a clue what they are doing. Then when things are a bit more stable he can be replaced publicly."
Anil Mistry, director and mortgage broker at RNR Mortgage Solutions: "The Chancellor, the PM, and the whole cabinet need to go. Ever since Liz and Kwazi came in and delivered their mini-Budget, it has been nothing but chaos for everyday people. We already had high fuel costs and shopping price increases, partly due to the war in Ukraine, but now we have had tax cuts for the rich, and people who have mortgage deals coming to an end soon who are in a state of panic due to potential increases in their mortgage payments. This leads to stress and anxiety for many people. Liz keeps saying she has capped energy prices, but the potential increased mortgage payments will be much more than the energy savings."
Amit Patel, adviser at Trinity Finance: "In any other job, he would have been sacked by now, so yes Kwasi needs to go. In fact, the whole Cabinet should resign. What we now need is a General Election and put it to the nation. It's been a complete shambles for years now and ordinary people have been left to foot the bill once again. The Tory party are meant to be the party of 'business people' but I've seen little evidence of this over the past decade. Every decision they have made has been fundamentally flawed, with no logic behind it."
