Moustafa told Mortgage Introducer Burnham faces a difficult inheritance rather than a straightforward opportunity, given the scale of the challenges awaiting him in Downing Street.
“To be honest with you, I think Andy Burnham is in a very hard position, I don’t think it’s like flowers and dreams for him,” she said. “People think Burnham is in one of the worst positions because it’s the last shot for the public, with demands directly for Reform UK or Restore Britain to come into power. It’s genuinely a last shot.”
Moustafa said she believes the public mood will not tolerate delay, adding that the new leadership needs to move quickly on the issues affecting mortgage borrowers rather than repeat what she characterised as a pattern of promises without action under the outgoing administration.
Why is the base rate a priority for mortgage brokers?
Moustafa said her first ask of the incoming prime minister concerns the Bank of England’s approach to interest rates. The Bank has held its base rate at 3.75% since December, maintaining that level at its most recent Monetary Policy Committee meeting on 18 June, with its next decision due on 30 July.
“Burnham needs to allow the Bank of England to adjust the base rate to match inflation and do what’s right for the economy,” she said. “He needs to allow the Bank of England to do the real bold movements that we need, because there is no point of having the Bank of England base rate at 3.75% when no bank is lending money under 4%. There is no point of having very nice base rates when you have inflation exploding.”