It’s the economy, stupid! Rishi Sunak’s vow to halve inflation could swing the election

• 35% of voters said economy would determine which party they would back 
• Just 9% said that immigration was the most pressing concern for them 

Tory hopes of retaining power at the next election rest on Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt’s hopes of halving inflation and cutting mortgage costs before voters go to the polls, a new survey suggests. 

The state of the stumbling economy is far and away the most important issue for voters ahead of an election expected next year, according to figures compiled for Mail Online.

More than a third (35 per cent) surveyed by Redfield &Wilton Strategies said it was the issue that would most define how they would cast their vote in the next election.

Tellingly, it was the most important issue across all age groups, with the highest figures among pensioners – a group containing a large number of Tory voters. 

It comes as mortgage lenders pull financial products from the shelves ahead of an expected further increase in interest rates from the Bank of England, designed to tackle inflation rates remaining stubbornly high.

In April CPI dropped to 8.9 per cent from 10.1 per cent the month before, dropping out of double figures for the first time in eight months.

But again the fall was not as big as expected, with analysts having pencilled in a number closer to 8 per cent.

Mr Sunak has vowed to half the rate of inflation by the end of the year as millions struggle with the cost-of-living crisis, high interest rates and the soaring cost of food.

He and Mr Hunt are refusing to bow to backbench demands for tax cuts, in case it affects inflation. 

The next most serious issues on voters minds were education and healthcare, according to a survey carried out for this website by Redfield & Wilton Strategies.

While Mr Sunak has made immigration another key focal point of Tory hopes for re-election, it is just the fourth most pressing issue for voters, with just 9 per cent flagging it as a particular concern.

Britain’s biggest building society is hiking some fixed mortgage rates for new borrowing from Friday, while another major lender has temporarily removed some products.

Nationwide Building Society said it needed to increase fixed rates to ensure they remain sustainable, while HSBC UK said it had temporarily removed some products so it can ‘stay within operational capacity’.

Nationwide is increasing selected fixed-rate deals for new borrowing as well as reducing some rates on trackers. The changed rates for new mortgage business will be effective from Friday.

A Nationwide spokesperson said: ‘In recent weeks swap rates (which underpin the pricing of fixed-rate mortgages) have continued to rise and lenders across the market have increased rates or withdrawn products.

‘We are not immune to this and need to increase our fixed rates to ensure they remain sustainable.’

Meanwhile, HSBC UK advised brokers yesterday afternoon that it had temporarily removed its ‘new business’ residential and buy-to-let products.

All products and rates for existing customers are still available, the bank said, adding that it continues to review the situation regularly.

An HSBC spokesperson said: ‘To ensure that we can stay within our operational capacity and meet our customer service commitments, we occasionally need to limit the amount of new business we can take each day.

‘Our broker products will be available again on Monday, June 12.’

Among Nationwide’s changes, it said two, three and five-year fixed-rate deals for people with a 5 per cent deposit will increase by between 0.01 and 0.20 percentage points, with rates starting from 4.69 per cent.

Financial information website Moneyfacts said it has seen several mortgage providers hiking rates over the past week.

On Thursday, the average two-year-fixed-rate mortgage rate on the market across all deposit brackets was 5.82 per cent, according to Moneyfacts’ figures, up from 5.49 per cent at the start of June.

The average five-year fixed-rate mortgage on the market on Thursday was 5.49 per cent, up from 5.17 per cent on June 1.

Responding to HSBC UK’s announcements on website Newspage, Riz Malik, founder and director at Southend-on-Sea-based R3 Mortgages, said: ‘I saw the announcement whilst at lunch and it really underscored the turbulent times we’re currently facing in the mortgage market.’

Jamie Lennox, director at Norwich-based Dimora Mortgages, said on the website: ‘More needs to be done by lenders to give a minimum of 24 hours to brokers to allow reasonable time for consumers to consider their options.’