First-time Buyers And Eric Pickles: The Mortgage Solutions Quiz 31 May 2013

UKIP is opposing Essex Council's first-time buyer mortgage scheme.

MPs described the Office of Fair Trading as 'ineffective and timid' because it failed to take action on payday lenders. This implies that the Office of Fair Trading did not enforce regulations or take strong measures against payday lenders who were engaging in unfair practices or exploiting vulnerable individuals. The MPs believed that the Office of Fair Trading should have been more proactive in addressing this issue and protecting consumers.

Eric Pickles was angry about the demand to include anti-fire sprinklers in new homes.

The British Chambers of Commerce expects the UK economy to grow by 0.9% this year. This indicates that the organization predicts a relatively low level of economic growth for the country.

Virgin Money revealed a two-year fixed deal at 4.75% up to 90% LTV.

Sir Mervyn King has been invited to participate in the BBC programme "Desert Island Discs."

The correct answer is 1%. This means that only a very small percentage of cases handled by the Financial Ombudsman concern independent financial advisers. It suggests that the majority of cases are not related to independent financial advisers, indicating that their involvement in disputes or complaints is relatively low compared to other parties.

Scotland saw the greatest rise in first-time buyers according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

The Homeowners Alliance warned that if Stamp Duty was not reformed, Britain could resemble Belgium. This suggests that the organization believes that the current system of Stamp Duty in Britain is problematic and needs to be changed. The comparison to Belgium implies that the Homeowners Alliance sees similarities between the two countries in terms of their housing market or property taxation policies. However, without further context or information, it is difficult to determine the specific reasons behind this warning.

The Office for National Statistics added satisfaction with accommodation to its national wellbeing measure, indicating that they included this aspect as a factor in assessing overall national wellbeing. In order to make room for this addition, they had to drop another factor from their measurement. In this case, they chose to drop "Trust in Parliament" as a measure of national wellbeing. This suggests that they considered satisfaction with accommodation to be a more important factor to include in their assessment than trust in the parliamentary system.