Financial downturn could last another eighteen months

According to an industry official the financial downturn that the nation is experiencing at the moment could last for another eighteen months until the property slump in the United States sorts itself out. Andrew Hornby, the chief executive of HBOS, said that it could take until 2010 for house prices in the United States to start rising again, and this could mean that the financial problems in the UK will persist for some time to come. Read more

Tags: long time, house, uk government, meantime reports claim, Economy of the United Kingdom, sixty, interview, credit crunch

Who is the best ‘pilot’…Brown or Cameron?

Following a highly controversial and frank interview given to a national newspaper by the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, with regards to the state of the economy earlier this week, the Justice Secretary Jack Straw has now spoken out to BBC reporters about his take on the situation. In relation to the interview that Darling gave, Mr Straw stated that he did not think that Darling had spoken out of turn when he gave the interview, but he added that the chancellor had, in fact, been referring to the global economic situation and not specifically to the economic crisis facing Britain. Read more

Tags: interview, david cameron, economic management, chancellor, whilst, global economic situation, prime minister, gordon brown

Chancellor to press lenders to pass on interest rate cuts to borrowers

Chancellor Alistair Darling is expected to tell mortgage lenders to pass on interest rate cuts to borrowers during a meeting with representatives from the Council of Mortgage Lenders next Tuesday (April 22nd), according to Bloomberg.

The Bank of England cut its base rate by 0.25 per cent last week and by three-quarters of a point since December, however many lenders failed to drop their mortgage rates.

Rates on the most popular mortgages rose to the highest level in eight years last month.

“We do need to make sure that people with mortgages see the benefits,” Mr Darling said in an interview in China today.

Following a meeting with banks on Tuesday, the government was warned that under the current credit crunch many smaller lenders could be forced to stop offering new mortgages, forcing consumers to turn to large providers.

The Bank is reportedly working on a plan to intervene in the UK mortgage market, according to The Financial Times.

Tags: Alistair Darling, Council, finance, Mortgage loan, interview, china today, financial, rate