Kwasi Kwarteng admits his mortgage repayments have gone up ‘considerably’ since his mini-budget

Published

2 years ago

August 7, 2023

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Former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has admitted he has been “affected” by his own mini-budget which was blamed for creating economic turmoil while Liz Truss was prime minister.

Mr Kwarteng, who was sacked by Ms Truss after just 38 days in the job, said his own mortgage repayments had “gone up considerably”.

However, he denied he was to blame for the wider economic situation and rising interest rates, which he said falls under the responsibility of the Bank of England.

Speaking to GB News’s Camilla Tominey, Mr Kwarteng was asked whether he had any sympathy with those facing higher mortgage costs.

“Of course I do”, he replied.

“I’m probably revealing too much: I’m on a tracker, so I’m affected as well. They’ve gone up considerably.”

Asked whether he had been “screwed by your own mini-budget?”, he replied: “No, not at all because Camilla we are mixing two things.”

He added: “The Bank of England was in charge of inflation and my tracker rate and other people’s tracker rates will be linked to the Bank rate, and whatever margin you have to pay.

“And the reason why interest rates have gone up very high is because we’ve totally missed the goal on inflation, we’ve totally misjudged inflation.”

Asked how much his mortgage bill had gone up by, Mr Kwarteng said: “A lot. We bought the house in 2021 so it’s gone up quite a bit since then.

“I’m just as exposed to interest rates as anyone else.”

In his mini-budget on 23 September, Mr Kwarteng unveiled £45bn in unfunded tax cuts and the promise to abolish the 45p top rate of tax.

The mini-budget, otherwise known as the “fiscal event”, triggered turbulence in the financial markets, sent the pound tumbling and led to an unprecedented intervention by the Bank of England stop pension funds collapsing and pushing mortgage rates up.

Mortgage costs increased significantly following the turmoil of the mini-budget, while lenders pulled a record number of mortgages in a single day the following week.

Last month, fixed mortgage rates rose again after a brief fall, according to financial information company Moneyfacts.

Meanwhile, the Bank of England raised interest rates for the 14th successive time on Thursday, lifting its official rate to 5.25%.

The quarter percentage point increase was smaller than some economists had expected, following the release of lower-than-anticipated inflation data last month.

Inflation currently stands at 7.9%.

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey defended the interest rate hike on the grounds it was necessary to bring inflation down to its 2% target.

“We know that inflation hits the least well off hardest and we need to make absolutely sure that it falls all the way back to the 2% target. That’s why we’ve raised rates to 5.25% today,” he said.

Politics

25% of young children and pregnant women malnourished in Gaza, charity says, as PM vows to fly critical medical cases to UK

Published

2 hours ago

July 26, 2025

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25% of young children and pregnant women malnourished in Gaza, charity says, as PM vows to fly critical medical cases to UK

A charity has warned 25% of young children and pregnant women in Gaza are now malnourished, with Sir Keir Starmer vowing to evacuate children who need “critical medical assistance” to the UK.

MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said Israel’s “deliberate use of starvation as a weapon” has reached unprecedented levels – with patients and healthcare workers both fighting to survive.

It claimed that, at one of its clinics in Gaza City, rates of severe malnutrition in children under five have trebled over the past two weeks – and described the lack of food and water on the ground as “unconscionable”.

The charity also criticised the high number of fatalities seen at aid distribution sites, with one British surgeon accusing IDF soldiers of shooting civilians “almost like a game of target practice”.

MSF’s deputy medical coordinator in Gaza, Dr Mohammed Abu Mughaisib, said: “Those who go to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s food distributions know that they have the same chance of receiving a sack of flour as they do of leaving with a bullet in their head.”

The UN also estimates that Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 people seeking food – the majority near the militarised distribution sites of the US-backed aid distribution scheme run by the GHF.

In a statement on Friday, the IDF had said it “categorically rejects the claims of intentional harm to civilians”, and reports of incidents at aid distribution sites were “under examination”.

The GHF has also previously disputed that these deaths were connected with its organisation’s operations, with director Johnnie Moore telling Sky News: “We just want to feed Gazans. That’s the only thing that we want to do.”

Israel says it has let enough food into Gaza and has accused the UN of failing to distribute it, in what the foreign ministry has labelled as “a deliberate ploy” to defame the country.

‘Humanitarian catastrophe must end’

In a video message posted on X late last night, Sir Keir Starmer condemned the scenes in Gaza as “appalling” and “unrelenting” – and said “the images of starvation and desperation are utterly horrifying”.

The prime minister added: “The denial of aid to children and babies is completely unjustifiable, just as the continued captivity of hostages is completely unjustifiable.

“Hundreds of civilians have been killed while seeking aid – children, killed, whilst collecting water. It is a humanitarian catastrophe, and it must end.”

Sir Keir confirmed that the British government is now “accelerating efforts” to evacuate children from Gaza who need critical medical assistance, so they can be brought to the UK for specialist treatment.

Israel has now said that foreign countries will be able to airdrop aid into Gaza. While the PM says the UK will now “do everything we can” to get supplies in via this route, he said this decision has come “far too late”.

Last year, the RAF dropped aid into Gaza, but humanitarian organisations warned it wasn’t enough and was potentially dangerous. In March 2024, five people were killed when an aid parachute failed and supplies fell on them.

For now, Sir Keir has rejected calls to follow French President Emmanuel Macron and recognise a Palestinian state – despite more than 220 MPs signing a cross-party letter to demand he takes this step.

The prime minister is instead demanding a ceasefire and “lasting peace” – and says he will only consider an independent state as part of a negotiated peace deal.