With all the chaos triggered by the mini-Budget, and mortgage rates going through the roof, Riz Malik of R3 Mortgages called for Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng to quit live on Sky News earlier today.
But do other brokers think the Chancellor should go? Here are some of Malik’s peers opinions…
Mike Staton, director of Staton Mortgages, is in full agreement with Malik: “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?
Meanwhile, Gindy Mathoon, mortgage broker at Create Finance, cautioned against such a move: “The question that really needs to be asked is who in the UK can fix the countless issues that have arisen since the mini-Budget?
“You have to give the Chancellor time to rectify the issues. Changing the Chancellor doesn’t guarantee financial stability. It’s a very knee-jerk reaction.”
Lewis Shaw, founder and mortgage expert at Shaw Financial Services, called for the Government to go one step further and call a General Election:
“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 12 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.”
But Craig Fish, founder & director at Lodestone, said a General Election could just make matters worse.
He said: “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?”.
While Rob Gill, managing director at Altura Mortgage Finance, said Truss should remember the words of her alleged role model Magaret Thatcher: “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.
Amit Patel, adviser at Trinity Financial, said the entire Cabinet should fall on its sword: “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.”
