Mortgage misery led voters to turn against the Tories

Conservative voters have lost faith in Rishi Sunak’s party’s ability to manage the housing market ahead of the election, figures show.

A breakdown of the results shows the Conservatives are losing support to Labour and the Liberal Democrats in constituencies with the most mortgage holders.

This came despite inflation falling to the 2 percent target and rate cuts expected this summer.

Sarah Coles, head of personal finance at Hargreaves Lansdown, said mortgage holders were “not convinced” that Sunak’s plan to fix the economy was working.

The Bank of England began raising rates in late 2021 to control rising prices.

But the mini-budget presented by Liz Truss – who has now lost her seat – pushed up borrowing costs in September 2022.

Rates are still at a 16-year high of 5.25 percent, adding to financial pressure.

AJ Bell’s policy director Tom Selby said: “Given the crippling interest rate rises, it is no surprise that many have taken out their frustration on the Tories.

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‘While one could argue that interest rates would have risen anyway, for many people that act of economic recklessness will have been enough to alter their voting intentions.’

In 2019, the Conservatives won all 30 constituencies with the highest number of mortgage holders.

They lost more than half of them last week when Labour won control of 12 constituencies, including front-runner Dartford.

And the Lib Dems won six of the seats, including Wokingham, which had previously been held by Conservative grandee John Redwood since 1987.

The Conservatives managed to retain 12 boroughs, including Old Bexley, Reigate and Croydon South.

Sarah Coles said: ‘Rising mortgage rates have had a terrible effect.

‘While inflation may have come down, it’s not going to make much of a difference to someone struggling with the additional monthly costs of refinancing their mortgage from a deal that costs less than 2 percent to one that costs nearly 6 percent.

“It wouldn’t be a big surprise if they weren’t convinced that the plan works and decided they wanted a change.”