Tuesday 4 October 2022 04:57 PM Truss is grilled over her own mortgage in awkward interview after turning up in ... trends now
Liz Truss was grilled about her own mortgage and her 45p tax rate u-turn in an awkward exchange with Sky News presenter Beth Rigby today - after turning up to the interview in trainers.
Mortgage rates have risen by nearly a whole percentage point in the two weeks since Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-Budget, figures have revealed.
This afternoon, in a sit-down during the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, Ms Rigby asked the Prime Minister whether she herself had a mortgage, to which she replied, 'I do'.
'And do you have an issue about remortgaging?' the journalist said. 'Well I,' Ms Truss said, while awkwardly laughing. 'I, I mean I do have a mortgage, yes I do.'
'The reason I'm asking you is lots of people are facing a spike in interest rates and if you have to remortgage on a variable rate you could be facing hundreds of pounds in additional costs,' said Ms Rigby. 'So I'm just asking you is this as Prime Minister something you're personally having to think about as well.'
Ms Truss, dodging the question, said she realised people were worried about interest rates but they were decided by the Bank of England, not politicians.
Today, in a sit-down during the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, Beth Rigby asked the Prime Minister whether she herself had a mortgage, to which she replied, 'I do'
Brokers have warned that homeowners face a second week of mayhem as lenders try to get to grips with market expectations of soaring interest rates.
The typical cost of a two-year fixed home loan has risen to 5.75 per cent, up from 4.74 per cent on September 23, the day of the Chancellor announcement.
This is more than double the 2.34 per cent average rate on offer last December, according to analysts at Moneyfacts.
Today's Sky News interview got off to a combative start, with Ms Rigby outlining the chaos that had engulfed the Prime Minister's first two weeks before asking, 'This is surely the worst start of any Prime Minister.'
Quizzed on her decision to change her mind of cutting the top tax rate from 45p to 40p, Ms Truss said there was 'absolutely no shame' in a leader 'listening to people', adding: 'What I did is I took the decision very rapidly on the 45p rate that it was becoming a distraction from the core policies we were delivering.
'Core policies on
