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Is it time for a General Election?

ended 04. October 2022

Due to the political, economic and market chaos triggered by the Chancellor's mini-Budget, and with nearly 500,000 people having signed a petition calling for an immediate general election (meaning the threshold needed for the motion to be considered for a debate in parliament has now been passed), one question:

  • Is it time for a General Election to be called?

Please give your reasons why and we'll issue your responses to the media today.

21 responses from the Newspage community

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Samuel Mather-Holgate
Independent Financial Adviser at Mather and Murray Financial
Despite the petition, there is zero chance of a general election at the moment. Truss has the option of carrying on being very unpopular or calling an election and being out of power. The first rally in her polls will signal a general election though as she hasn't got much time to strategise between now and her electoral deadline. I think this will be in Spring 2023.
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Riz Malik
Independent Financial Adviser at R3 Wealth
Financial markets do not like uncertainty. Calling a General Election now would be the last thing to settle the markets, if anything, it could make things worse. The current administration needs to fix the problem they created & make others confident in the outlook for UK PLC.
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Mary Maguire
Managing Director at Astute Recruitment Ltd
Trust. Hard to win, very easy to lose. On the Sunday Politics show – Ed Balls and George Osbourne sat side by side. Ed said that regardless of his opposition to George’s tax proposals when George was Chancellor under Cameron, they both respected and adhered to the OBR and their fiscal responsibilities for the Nation. George agreed. When you have two opposing political factions agreeing, and George then saying that he did not expect the ‘self-destruction’ of the Tories – well that says something. When Truss was elected by Tory members, there was a hope that order could be restored. Nope. Instead we had our new Prime Minister and her Chancellor, both unelected by the people of Britain, impose deeply unfair, uncosted tax and other proposals. The Bank of England even had to step in to protect the UK’s pensions, and there was a run on our currency. Bad for business. Bad for hardworking Britons everywhere already under pressure. Is it time for the people of the UK to have their say? 100% yes. We need a General Election ASAP.
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Wes Wilkes
CEO at IronMarket Wealth
To quote Brenda from Bristol in 2017 "You're joking, not another one"! Can't imagine anything worse right now!
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Debbie Porter
Managing Director at Destination Digital Marketing
The problem with the constant round of elections, leadership challenges and putting things to vote is that it’s a case of ‘same meat, different gravy’ with the Conservative party. The government has fallen into a leadership-takeover game where talk is cheap, and pledges are made to persuade the vote in their direction. Nobody behaves as if they really believe they will then need to carry the can for their pledges. Many of the new policies take more time to embed than the ‘leader’ lasts in office and so they are safeguarded from accountability for their actions. If only there were some sort of opposition party that was willing to step into a role of opposition, we might find a way out of this depressing cycle.
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Edward Richardson
Chartered Financial Planner at Edward Richardson, FPFS
I can understand why people are calling for a General Election in the hopes it brings with it a clear new direction. However, the downside is the uncertainty in the short-term, followed by the introduction, and implementation, of new policies. There is some sense in following the chosen path.
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Tim Mottram
Financial Planner at Grey Parrot Financial Planning
The current government has had a tough time this year, but now is not the time for a general election. The UK's reputation as a bastion of global stability is already in tatters, and further political disruption would be terrible. Petitions for change can be a good thing, but we should be careful pressuring our politicians into popularism - as the right thing to do in the current market may not please everyone.
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Gaurav Shukla
Managing Director at Home Me Mortgages
Yes. It’s as simple as that. Liz Truss has been in charge for less than a month and her team have already caused markets to crash, the pound to reach it’s weakest in decades and have cut spending on public health services. With the U-turn on getting rid of the top rate on income tax, it further showed the Chancellor and PM did not envisage the outpour after this, especially in the markets. Did they do their homework on such policies before issuing them in the first place? It seems the PM and her team don’t have a grasp on reality, and it seems to be getting worse as days go by. There is no confidence in them to run this country, some Tories even speaking out against Liz Truss and the public not voting them in, in the first place. The latest polls suggest that Labour would win in a general election, given the Tories being in charge for 12 years and coming to a downward spiral of losing control. Maybe a change is what the UK needs, bringing back some stability and confidence, in order for us to prosper as we always have done.
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Adrian Kidd
Chartered Wealth Manager at EQ Financial Planning
I would say not yet. There's a lot of emotion around and we tend to make bad decisions when too emotional (think Brexit). Yes, the last 3 weeks of Truss are causes for concern but we have seen a row backwards yesterday which means at least they are taking notice, even if its without any apology. We should remember this is the same Government that navigated us through Covid, even if the leader is not the same so it feels like there should be some "goodwill" left on the balance sheet. I for one, am weary of referendum speak and elections. We've had a lot of them in last 6 years and some patience perhaps is to be exercised at this point. Its a bit like sacking a Premier League manager 8 games into a season; its usually seen as panicking and maybe that is not a good sign for the markets now either.
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Rhys Schofield
Brand Director at Peak Mortgages and Protection
Seeing as the current government was elected by a small majority of Conservative party members which is also small not very representative group of society, probably. It seems like after 12 years the incumbents are out of ideas and it looks like a change would do the country some good.
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Graham Cox
Director at Bridging Hub
Ordinarily I'd say yes, we need a general election asap. But when the bonds and fx markets are so volatile, months of political uncertainty caused by a snap election could drastically increase pressure on sterling and gilt yields. That could be hugely detrimental to the economy.
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Eddie Young
Director at Eddie Young Magic
I didn't vote for this Prime minister, The public should have the right to vote who governs the country. It seems the government have ran out of ideas and making our life's worse. I am really worried about my business
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Helen Llewellyn
Director at Infinity Wellbeing
No, not yet. The UK, and world in general need to change the focus on what constitutes success. Money is not the answer. It will take time for new ideas to be developed on how to run a country as a collaborative community rather than a patriarchy. To have an election now is just changing the colour of the shirt in power
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Sara Porter
Owner at Sara Porter Photography
The past few years have felt like we are in a pinball machine pinging from government u-turn to u-turn. As a business it is becoming impossible to plan ahead as you know that within weeks or even days they will change direction again. What’s needed is a clear, consistent long term plan from those in power and that can only be done with the fresh start that comes with a general election.
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Cheney Hamilton
CEO at The Find Your Flex Group
We have never needed a General Election more. They (the tories) wont do it, as they know they will never be in power again, but we really do need it. Maybe a Coup is on the cards.. for me, Britain needs to stand up and protest. They (the tories) are raping and pillaging this country, it is unrecognisable to me. Greed and Power is what they've got and they know they are on 'last orders', so they will take what they can get, whilst they can.
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Ian Hewett
Founder at The Bearded Mortgage Broker
That is like asking me after a night out "is a bacon sandwich a good idea", yes can be the only answer. However, be careful what you wish for as no political party really work for the people the way they should.
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Siobhian Raymond
Owner at Pale & Interesting
The conservative party have been in power for 12 years and in this time they've constantly been proven to be negligent, irresponsible, flippant and inept. Flouting laws they themselves made. Making rules that benefit themselves. Leaving the country to literally struggle and starve. There needs to be change. The UK cannot continue to survive in this climate.
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David Robinson
Co-Founder at Wildcat Law
The election that nobody wants but that the country probably needs. The problem we have currently is that Liz Truss never had the backing of the majority of the Conservative MP's in parliament. In fact a number have been even more openly hostile than is usual even for the Conservatives. Without a populist mandate, in the same way Boris had following the last election, it makes her ability to pursue what are pretty drastic policy changes are extremely limited as we have seen this week. Markets hate uncertainty and they are sensing that we have a weak government with an uncertain strategy at a time that we need clear and decisive leadership with a plan that everyone understands. Already there is talk of yet another leadership challenge and with it change of direction by the government. Whilst "experts" are often maligned by a certain section of politicians, we could really do with someone demonstrating a bit of expertise currently, unfortunately it may require a general election to obtain this.
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Alastair Hoyne
CEO, Finanze Capital at Finanze Capital
The growing number of supporters who signed the petition is reflective of the public’s desire for transparency on how Truss and Kwarteng’s fiscal measures can be funded. However, even as poll ratings continue to sink, having an immediate general election will only add more uncertainty that will get the pound and the stock market to tumble again similar to the turmoil that happened last week. Although the government’s approach may not bring any short-term impact for now, it is best to look forward to how their trickle-down economics can fix the crisis we are in during the long term, especially in the housing market.
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Sara Hall
Founder at Lilibet & Phil Publishing House
It's like waking up in the muppet show, it really is. The whole Nation was up in arms about a staff celebration and his John Lewis wallpaper and not 5 minutes in Liz Truss has managed to tank the UK economy and kill GDP. Where is the lynch mob today? I hope they call a National election, and for heavens sake, put Boris back in the game.
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Kieran Boyle
Managing Director at CKB Recruitment Ltd
For me, I think now is really not the right time, so soon after changing Prime Minister, and let's face it, is there even a party that is capable of sorting out the current mess we find ourselves in? I would suggest not. Politicians seem to take up positions they have no qualifications or experience for, to actually perform competently. So personally, I think we need some stability, and in the short term a Conservative Government traditionally sees the markets perform better, and given albeit under a different leader, were elected for a 4 year term, see no reason to call a GE now. I would also worry about a relatively inexperienced shadow bench, so I think a case of better the devil you know right now, as much as it pains me to say, as this lot really don't inspire the greatest of confidence do they!