Politics
First past the post
With a change of governing body and a market review to consider this year’s political party conference season promised to be of particular interest to our industry. Mortgage Introducer looks at whether they lived up to the promise
by Alex Hammond, PR brand and communications manager, Kensington
The mortgage market has always attracted a high level of political attention, and with good reason. Housing is a fundamental human requirement, which sets mortgages aside from other financial services such as say, car insurance, which while necessary and worthwhile, is unlikely to stir up any base instincts and as such is probably not going to prove much motivation to potential voters. Properties have become not only our homes, but also a significant source of our perceived wealth and this has added another layer of interest in mortgages for government and policy makers. But the mortgage market has never been subject to quite as much political scrutiny as it has in the past two years with the fallout of the global banking crisis, which was played out in the media with lenders and bankers as lead villains. So, with the country emerging tentatively from one recession and threatening to tumble into another, the first Coalition Government in power since the 1970s and the government owning a controlling stake in some of the nation’s largest lenders – not to mention the regulatory upheaval on the horizon, with a change of governing body and a market review to consider – this year’s political party conference season promised to be
of particular interest to our industry. So did the reality live up to the promise? The short answer is no. Not on the surface anyway. The main speeches still played up to populist attacks on banks, the opposition had its own house to put in order before even contemplating any issues, and the governing powers were focussed primarily on cutting the deficit. But away from the main halls and the headlines there were some pointers we can take as to how our industry may be influenced by policy in the future and, perhaps more to the point, how that policy can be informed by our industry.
LiberaL Democrat There was an unprecedented amount of security at Liberal Democrats conference, which took place in Liverpool. The previous third party, now joint governing power had never before had security scanners and metal detectors at the entrance to their event – nor had they had so many journalists covering proceedings, with the number up nearly two thirds on last year.
General consensus was many of these
journalists had already written their stories before arriving on Merseyside, with all eyes on how the party was holding together following coalition with the Conservatives. But while Vince Cable may have raged against capitalism during his turn at the podium, he didn’t live up to his billing as the most likely candidate to step outside the party line.
It was, in fact, a very well trodden line and Nick Clegg’s speech reeked of
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reassurance that the party had made the right choice and they were now in a position to change Britain for good. He didn’t give an awful lot of detail about how the party would do this, but he was more clear about what wasn’t going to continue moving forward, taking a swipe at the banking industry and the country’s reliance on financial services. But away from the cameras there was no talk of bonuses or clamping down on financial services. Instead, people – and many of whom will be influential in this Government – spoke of the need to increase competition and diversity in our sector, they were open to input, acknowledged that to over-regulate would be to stifle recovery and were clear that to reduce the reliance our country has on financial services does not mean it wants to shrink financial services, but to build around it.
Labour
In Manchester the Labour conference was dominated by the battle of the Milibands – a battle we all now know was won by the younger brother Ed and saw David taking a step back from frontline politics. With no leader in place at the start of the conference and no shadow government until a fortnight later there is little we can derive from Labour’s event in Manchester. However, Ed Miliband’s choice of shadow chancellor, Alan Johnson, has caused some interest since. Johnson himself has acknowledged his lack of economic experience and, when asked by the BBC, joked that his first
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