Kwasi Kwarteng admits his mortgage repayments have gone up ‘considerably’ since his mini-budget
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.”
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‘I’m cutting everything out just to survive’
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.
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Inflation should ‘fall over the coming months’
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.
Read more:
The squeeze on renters is a symptom of Britain’s housing crisis of supply and affordability
Wilko: 12,000 jobs at risk as UK retail chain on brink of collapse
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.
New Hampshire has approved the issuance of a $100 million municipal bond backed by Bitcoin, in what appears to be the first structure of its kind at the US state level.
Minutes from a Nov. 17 meeting of the New Hampshire Business Finance Authority (BFA), the state’s business financing agency, show the board planned “to consider approving a resolution authorizing up to $100,000,000 bonds for a project to acquire and hold digital currency.”
Minutes from the following day record that directors voted to “approve the preliminary official intent, with no reservation, to issue a taxable conduit revenue bond for WaveRose Depositor, LLC of up to $100,000,000.”
According to a Wednesday Crypto in America report, the bond is backed by Bitcoin (BTC) and would let companies borrow against overcollateralized BTC held by a private custodian. The state or taxpayers do not back the bond; instead, BFA approves and oversees a private deal, while Bitcoin — reportedly held in custody by BitGo — covers investors.
According to the report, asset manager Wave Digital Assets and bond specialist Rosemawr Management designed the bond to utilize Bitcoin as collateral under the same rules that govern municipal and corporate bonds. Wave co-founder Les Borsai said the goal is to “bridge traditional fixed income with digital assets” for institutional investors.
Related: New Hampshire, North Dakota introduce bills for Strategic Bitcoin Reserve
“We believe this structure shows how public and private sectors can collaborate to responsibly unlock the value of digital assets and digital asset reserves,” he added.
The borrower is expected to post approximately 160% of the bond’s value in Bitcoin as collateral, and if the price of BTC drops below roughly 130%, a liquidation would ensure that bondholders stay whole. According to BFA Executive Director James Key-Wallace, fees from the transaction will fund the local innovation and entrepreneurship program, the Bitcoin Economic Development Fund.
New Hampshire dives headfirst into crypto
The news follows New Hampshire becoming the first US state to allow its government to invest in cryptocurrencies in May after Governor Kelly Ayotte signed a bill allowing the municipality to “invest in cryptocurrency and precious metals.”
Related: US won’t start Bitcoin reserve until other countries do: Mike Alfred
New Hampshire is also working on a bill to deregulate local cryptocurrency mining operations. In late October, a committee voted 4–2 to send the measure for further review in an interim study after it had been deadlocked in the State Senate twice.
The local administration is viewed as particularly welcoming to the cryptocurrency industry. In early February, Brendan Cochrane, an Anti-Money Laundering specialist at YK Law in New York City, argued that it could become an alternative for crypto companies relocating to the Bahamas.
The latest moves build on a longer history of crypto engagement. Back in 2015, New Hampshire was already working on a bill that would have allowed the state government to accept tax and fee payments in Bitcoin.
The bill ultimately failed in 2016, but it shows how early the local administration began to show interest in this asset class. Additionally, as early as 2016, some advocates were already arguing that New Hampshire was among the world’s most Bitcoin-friendly communities.
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Ondo Global Markets, a US-based tokenization platform, has received regulatory approval to offer tokenized stocks to European investors.
Liechtenstein Financial Market Authority (FMA) has granted Ondo approval to launch its tokenized stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the European Union and the broader European Economic Area (EEA), the company announced on Tuesday.
“With this milestone, more than 500 million investors in 30 European countries can soon access regulated exposure to US markets directly onchain,” Ondo said.
The news came a few weeks after Ondo partnered with Boerse Stuttgart Group’s digital asset arm BX Digital to enable the tokenized stock trading in Switzerland on Nov. 3.
Liechtenstein adopts MiCA despite not being EU member state
Liechtenstein’s approval positions Ondo to offer tokenized stocks and ETFs to retail investors across all 30 EEA countries, including all 27 EU nations plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
The regulatory milestone positions Ondo to operate within a “unified, regulated European framework consistent with established investor-protection standards,” the company said.
Ondo did not specify the framework under which it secured approval to offer tokenized stocks in Europe, but highlighted Liechtenstein’s passporting regime, which extends across the EEA.
As an EEA member state, Liechtenstein implemented the EU-wide Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework through the EEA MiCA Implementation Act, EWR-MiCA-DG, which entered into force in February.
Following the expiry of the transitional regime on Dec. 31, 2025, crypto asset service providers (CASPs) must hold MiCA authorization from Liechtenstein’s FMA.
Related: Ondo tokenizes over 100 US stocks and ETFs on BNB Chain
Cointelegraph approached Ondo and the FMA for comment regarding the nature of the approval but had not received a response at the time of publication.
The news arrives amid rising tensions within the EU over the extent of supervisory authority that member states should retain under MiCA. According to reports, EU officials are drafting plans to designate the European Securities and Markets Authority as the direct regulator for all CASPs across the bloc.
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