Sarah Tucker (pictured), founder and chief executive of The Mortgage Mum, has been selected as one of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s “future voices” of her sector after being invited to a briefing at Number 10 to discuss the government’s Plan for Change.
Speaking exclusively to Mortgage Solutions, Tucker said it was an “honour” to be asked and saw it as a “huge positive” for the mortgage industry, and she hopes it marks the start of an ongoing relationship.
Tucker was invited to attend a briefing at Number 10 to represent the economic and housing sector one week before Starmer delivered his Plan for Change speech at Pinewood Studios, in which he unveiled Labour’s six milestones.
Tucker said: “When I saw the email saying the government would like to invite me to an event at Downing Street, I thought it was fake and checked the links a few times before I believed it.
“I thought there’s no way that’s real because an opportunity this big doesn’t just land in your inbox. But it was real.”
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Surprise meeting with PM
Experts for each of Starmer’s six milestones – living standards, housebuilding, NHS targets, policing, early-years education and clean energy – were given an audience with the Prime Minister in his study, where they were told that, following a briefing, they would have the opportunity to ask questions.
“I didn’t know I’d be asking Sir Keir Starmer the questions until he walked into the room,” said Sarah, who thought she’d be meeting with the housing minister or members of his team instead.
Tucker asked Starmer how building one-and-a-half million homes helped economic growth and how that was going to affect real working people.
In line with the speech he delivered the week later, Starmer said building houses, which comes with lots of jobs and investment, was a driver of the economy and was one of the biggest indicators of the economy thriving. And, if the houses were located sensibly and rationally where they were needed, then it would also have a direct impact on the economy.
You can see Tucker’s interview with Starmer here.
Adding weight to industry’s voice
“It was a huge honour to be asked to go,” said Tucker, who thinks she was selected through a combination of her social media presence and her appearances on ITV’s This Morning.
She added: “He genuinely wanted to hear our opinions.
“He told us we’d all been selected by his team because they believe we are the future voices of our sectors and because we have a great way of explaining information.”
Although there was not an opportunity to talk more specifically about mortgage affordability, something Tucker would like to address with the government, she hopes there will be an opportunity when she meets with the Prime Minister’s team again in the near future.
She sees this as the start of an ongoing relationship.
She said: “For the mortgage industry, this is a huge positive.
“Working with the government so closely brings more exposure to our industry and adds weight to what we all do.
“I feel so privileged to be representing our sector and bringing our collective voice to the table, and I think the fact the government have chosen a member of the mortgage industry to represent such an important sector in their Plans for Change speaks volumes about how vital and valuable our industry really is.”
