Majority of brokers give the Conservative government a thumbs-up for their first three months in office

29 September 2015

58% of Brokers who took part in United Trust Bank’s most recent survey have described the government’s performance during their first three months in office as ‘Good’ or ‘Excellent’.

A further 29% rated the Conservative’s efforts as ‘Satisfactory’ and 13% as ‘Disappointing’ or ‘Poor’.

The survey, which is completed by brokers working in the Bridging, Development Finance, Asset Finance, Technology Finance and Professional Loans sectors, garnered broker opinions during August, following the completion of the Conservative Party’s crucial first 100 days as a majority government.

In a pre-election survey, carried out by United Trust Bank in April this year, the Conservative Party was overwhelmingly confirmed as the broker’s choice for having the most business friendly policies (86%) and policies most beneficial to the UK property market (73%).

How would you rate the performance of the new government during their first three months in office?

	Excellent	Good	Satisfactory	Disappointing	Very poor
Percent	9	49	29	12	1

Harley Kagan, Managing Director of United Trust Bank said:

“In the lead up to the general election, the Conservative Party’s manifesto won the overwhelming support of brokers for appearing to back business and the property market. Now, following their first three months as a majority government, most brokers are happy with how they’ve started their term in office.

“Leaving aside the challenges posed by China’s economic woes and the subsequent slide of the FTSE, the UK economy has remained relatively stable since May 7^th with interest rates, economic output and inflation all the same or similar to their pre-election levels. Businesses like stability, and certainly from conversations we’ve had with brokers, most have said their 2015 targets remain on track. From United Trust Bank’s perspective, this is going to be another year of growth across all of our lending divisions.

“Where we would like to see more leadership from the government is in their clarification of what lies in store for some successful housing initiatives. For example, the relaxation of the planning rules surrounding permitted development has led to opportunities for developers to quickly progress office to residential conversions. However, uncertainty over what happens post May next year, when the order expires, is preventing developers from starting any substantial new projects. That’s frustrating when we’re still eight months from the deadline.”