Money saving expert, Martin Lewis, has urged the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, to bring forward a four point emergency plan to protect mortgage holders from the impact of potential rate rises in the UK. This comes just as Jeremy Hunt, who was brought in as the new Chancellor on Friday (September 14), is set to make a statement to the House of Commons on Monday afternoon (September 17).
During his statement, the politician is set to 'bring forward measures from the Medium-Term Fiscal Plan' in a bid to calm the chaos in the financial markets. In September, Prime Minister Liz Truss and former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-budget plan, which was set to slash £45bn in taxes, sent the pound crashing, pensions funds and insurance giants rushing to sell bonds and mortgage lenders to pull deal after deal in efforts to stay solvent.
But it seems that Hunt's intended plans have already worked as the pound has jumped higher. Sterling leapt to 1.129 US dollars at one stage, having kicked off more nervously, dipping to 1.122 against the greenback in overnight trading ahead of what many have feared would be a testing day on markets.
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The Treasury's announcement of an emergency fiscal statement came before markets opened for the first time since the Bank of England ended its government bond-buying scheme, with all eyes on the reaction in gilt trading.
Last night, it is said that Mr Hunt met with the Governor of the Bank of England and the Head of the Debt Management Office to brief them on his plans. Ahead of Hunt's announcement however, the founder of MoneySavingExpert, Martin Lewis wants the new Chancellor to put in place an "emergency mortgage plan" for regulatory intervention.
On Monday morning, he tweeted: "Dear Jeremy Hunt, pls [sic.] put in place an emergency mortgage plan for regulatory intervention that protects mortgage holders from the impact of likely sharp UK rate rises."
He then went on to list the potential ways in which Mr Hunt could help mortgage holders, such as loosening remortgage affordability rules, flexibility in terms, payment holidays, as well as a stronger forbearance.
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