The Bank of England faces new critics

 

I am no longer a lonely voice complaining about the failure of the Bank of England to keep inflation down, nor inĀ  arguing about excessive tightening by selling bonds at big losses when they have no need to do so.

The Lords Economic Affairs Committee recently produced a good report into the problems at the Bank of England. They concluded that

  1. Excess inflation in recent years was not just the result of external shocks from the Ukraine war. It reflected monetary policy errors and inadequate forecasting models.
  2. The Bank did not have diverse thought around the table and ignoredĀ  excess money growth as a possible cause of inflation
  3. They want documents published about the state guarantees against Bank losses, and see this has brought into question the Bank’s independence
  4. The Bank’s remit including matters like climate change is too wide and should be more focused on inflation
  5. The Bank needs to be subject to tougher scrutiny which should be undertaken by Parliament to ensure it is properly challenged over its models, its recruitment, it analysis and its results.

Last weekend the Telegraph ran a very critical article about the Bank, expressing the fear that current policy will bring on a needless recession. David Smith in the Times, a usual supporter and reporter of the Treasury/Bank view was also more critical and concerned that policy in the UK was detaching from the worlds of the ECB and Fed, and was too tight.

It is time the Bank listened to these valid points. They should announce they are ending their bond sales into the markets, letting the bond portfolio reduce as the bonds reach maturity and repayment. They should observe the ECB is not selling any bonds into the market, and see that the Fed is now signalling lower interest rates to come in 2024. All 3 Central banks made the same mistakes with too much money and inflation in 2020-21. The Bank of England seems to be the one that makes the reverse error more severely by encouraging a recession.

92 Comments

  1. Bob+Dixon
    December 19, 2023

    Who choose Andrew Bailey as Governor when he failed at his previous post
    .

    1. PeteB
      December 19, 2023

      Indeed Bob – as the saying goes “he had form”.

      Incidentally, the Lords talk of a lack of a lack of diversity of thought in the BofE. Sir J goes on to say what the Fed and ECB have done differently. Copying them doesn’t display diverse thinking. Surely central banks should look for new ideas?

    2. Lifelogic
      December 19, 2023

      One Rishi Sunak Chancellor was it not? This when the BoE caused the high inflation with vast QU and thus the huge jump in interest rates (not Truss really but Sunak). The government BoE could (at that time) borrow ten year money at well under 2% (& even some mortgages rather a bargain so I did indeed fix much of my debt) but the BoE Treasury fools chose to borrow & much of it on rates linked to inflation (inflation they were causing). Hence vast government debt interest now. Inflation further pushed up by the insane net zero lunacy and market rigging in EVs, heat pumps, health care, HS2 and transport, universities, housing shortagesā€¦ huge drop in house planning permissions I see too.

      Starmer still think he can pay for all his mad plans with abolition or non dom status and VAT on private school fees. Please tell him neither will raise any net funds both will harm the economy hugely. For schools many will be pushed back into the state system cost government far more. He surely is not so thick is he so he must surely be lying?

      1. Original Richard
        December 19, 2023

        LL : “Inflation further pushed up by the insane net zero lunacy and market rigging in EVs, heat pumps, health care, HS2 and transport, universities, housing shortagesā€¦ huge drop in house planning permissions I see too.”

        ā€œThe market riggingā€ with energy subsidies and fines on ices and gas boilers to support the CAGW/Net hoax to ā€œsave the planetā€ (not applicable to non-western countries BTW) is communism. Slavery is freedom, war is peace, energy poverty saves the planet, government fines free the market etc..

      2. James
        December 19, 2023

        Thank your for attending WHO UK Parliament debate

    3. Ian B
      December 19, 2023

      @Bob+Dixon +1 and who is it that is the overall manager, the one with the Democratic Authority attached to ‘manage’ the BoE? It will only change when we vote out the problem. Maybe not for the better but at least the dead wood would go.

    4. Nigl
      December 19, 2023

      Precisely and thatā€™s why they are afraid to sack him. Once again the public are suffering and having to pay for governments choices.

      And in relation to a previous post I saw the energy minister blame boiler manufacturers of ā€˜profiteeringā€™ when they sought to cover the tax that a predecessor had imposed as a penalty for not selling a product no one wants.

      Just where does she think new build properties (boxes) with a combi boiler are going to suddenly find space for a two metre tall one metre square water tank? To ensure my thinking was up to date I did a cost calculation based on all the allegedly new more efficient heat pumps available. It confirms that the grant available is pathetic and government ministers continue to spout uninformed rubbish.

    5. Ian Wraggg
      December 19, 2023

      So the new energy minister is accusing the boiler manufacturers of price gouging because they’ve increased their price to cover the government fines. Motor manufacturers are doing exactly the same. As always the customer pays and we still won’t buy your heat pumps or EVs.
      Communism in its purest form from a si called tory government.
      Lol.

  2. Lynn Atkinson
    December 19, 2023

    Well done JR. Proof that itā€™s intellect and argument that has won out and not position. You were a lone boice whistling in the wind as many in this blog observed. But your tenacity and argument paid off. We san all learn a lesson from that.
    Of course we all want those who can argue and reason to justify their ā€˜opinionā€™ to have power, but that is not how the globalist rules based west operates. That is what most comments on this blog rail against.
    It would have been nice if the Bank of England could have been a world leader, applying the monetary lessons that we learned at such great cost, but instead it wanted to show that it was so strong, so powerful that it could drink poison and yet survive and thrive. This is apparently the twisted mindset of the cocaine addicts – proving that even thus handicapped, they are supreme.
    Well so long as someone else is paying your debts and losses you can and do survive, and never learn.
    Time to rejoin responsibility with the authority that these ā€˜leaders so enjoy. Dividing those two always creates irresponsibility and the destruction of the fittest on the alter of the unfit.

    1. Lemming
      December 19, 2023

      Lynn, doesn’t it occur to you that it is very convenient for the Conservatives, who have been in power now for over 13 years, to find anyone but themselves to blame for the state of the country? You wouldn’t want to be taken in, would you?

      1. Ian B
        December 19, 2023

        @Lemming They refuse to ‘manage’, don’t know how to ‘manage’ They somehow thing another pronouncement another sound bite is managing

      2. Denis Cooper
        December 19, 2023

        Well, going back before the war in Ukraine, and then before the pandemic, this is from December 1 2019:

        http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2019/12/01/prosperity-not-austerity-5/#comment-1074270

        “The Tories are only vulnerable on this issue because of their failure to impress on the public that Labour totally wrecked the governmentā€™s finances. Which abject and hugely damaging propaganda failure started when George Osborne was the shadow Chancellor. I commented about this again and again to no avail, and I donā€™t suppose that it will make any difference now, but here is a small sample of those comments just on this blog.”

        Starting in June 2009 with ā€œNow when the government spends four pounds, it has to borrow one of them …”

      3. forthurst
        December 19, 2023

        They are certainly guilty of appointing a known dud to the governorship of the Bank but it was the other lot that gave the Bank operational independence, thereby bringing about the current state of affairs.

      4. Lynn Atkinson
        December 19, 2023

        Do you not see that JR has exposed the Treasury by proving that the BOE is not independent – else like the other central Banks it would be responsible for it losses and therefore have in incentive not to rack the kisses up unnecessarily?
        Do you not see that he has placed the blame on the First Lord of the Treasury for not instructing the Governor in the best interest of the U.K.?
        You would not want to discourage the most able of all MPs from continuing on his heroic, lonely path would you, just because so many apples in the barrel are rotten?
        JR could save our country. Thatā€™s the long and the short of it. Starmer, Sunak etc etc regardless of party, canā€™t.

        1. Lynn Atkinson
          December 19, 2023

          Sorry, slip of the finger – losses not kisses, canā€™t see anyone in the BOE getting many of those šŸ¤­ unless they go to Glasgow.

  3. Stred
    December 19, 2023

    Let’s face it, the governor was a failure in his previous job and has around him other lefty incompetent academics who are as useless as the rest of the civil service. They are not independent but dependent on the taxpayer.

    1. Peter Wood
      December 19, 2023

      Yes, this ‘independence’ nonsense really needs to be ended. Could the BoE exist without the Treasury? Could the Government fund it’s spending without the BoE? Does Money Supply affect interest rates? The QE experiment has been tried many times, Germany, Argentina, and Italy numerous times, always leads to inflation. But we did it again. Reverse QE, or QT, removes all that excess Fiat Money; Good, it returns some value to our money. We enjoyed the get-rich-quick asset inflation high, but now we have the hangover. The unknown, it seems, is how much and how quickly to withdraw excess money.
      PS, the Treasury sending Fiat Money to BoE for cancelling simply removes money, as intended under QT.

  4. hefner
    December 19, 2023

    Wasnā€™t it the Chancellor Rishi Sunak who sometimes in the first quarter of 2021 increased the BoE remit to include plans for transitioning the UK to a zero carbon economy by 2050?
    In which case shouldnā€™t the responsibility of the elected (HoC) and non-elected (HoL) representatives be engaged for having not foreseen the potential problems? Isnā€™t a December 2023 hindsight a wonderful loincloth to cover the inadequate scrutiny that happened thirty months ago?

    1. Hat man
      December 19, 2023

      This measure was in the then Chancellor’s March 2021 budget, Hefner. He was no doubt responding to lobbying pressure from the Net Zero Alliance, a group of financial firms created around this time and chaired by…. former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney.

    2. Martin in Bristol
      December 19, 2023

      You are in favour of moving to Net Zero hefner.
      Yet here for political purposes you now are criticising the policy.

  5. DOM
    December 19, 2023

    We all know Bailey’s doing EU-Labour’s bidding and we all know why. Maybe Eurosceptic Tory MPs who know this to be true should say so in Parliament, on television and in the press and stop pissing around making non-committal inferences. Bailey’s hardly gonna ‘send the boys round’ to break kneecaps Godfather style

    Labour’s aim is simple. It is take this country back into the EU, fact.

    1. glen cullen
      December 19, 2023

      But have we really left

  6. Sakara Gold
    December 19, 2023

    Soaring global debt levels – public, private and corporate – now total $307TRILLION or 238% of global GDP. A moments’ reflection shows that this debt level is unsustainable and will ultimately cause hyperinflation, as heavily indebted nations such as the UK (now Ā£2.4TRILLION or 105% of GDP) have to borrow more money to spend on paying the interest.

    Those holding hard assets such as gold and silver during the coming financial collapse will preserve their wealth and even prosper. Those holding debt will end up scavenging in dustbins and living in cardboard boxes in shop doorways, getting moved on by the police several times a night.

    1. Sam
      December 19, 2023

      Are you calling for austerity SG?
      Are you therefore in favour of reduced Government spending on education health defense overseas aid and subsidies for environmental matters?

  7. Sakara Gold
    December 19, 2023

    The high inflation with which the global economy is struggling was caused by the fossil fuel cartel quadrupling their prices. This country added Ā£150bn to the national debt supporting households to pay their energy bills last winter by paying direct subsidies to the oil majors.

    1. IanT
      December 19, 2023

      Perhaps SG, if Angela Merkel hadn’t made German Industry totally dependent upon Russian gas and also shut down German Nuclear power stations, then there would have been much less impact on European energy prices. I say European because this “inflation” you describe didn’t occur at anywhere the same level in other countries, especially the US.
      The same Green zelots who protest against Fossil Fuels, are the same type of ill-informed idealists who opposed nuclear power programmes 30-40 years ago. You seem to beleive (or at least keep stating) that Renewables are less expensive than fossil fuels, whilst completely ignoring the upfront cost of building them – let alone the need for gas-fired back-up.
      This may have worked when debt was cheap but (as we are already seeing) it’s not going to work now debt has moved back nearer long term averages (e.g. 5%). I’m afraid that whatever you might like to see happen, the speculators behind much of the early rush to renewables are going to be a lot more careful gambling on them going forward, not to mention that they will become much more expensive.
      Going Green may sound attractive but not let’s pretend that it’s going to be cheap or easy…

    2. Sam
      December 19, 2023

      SG
      Yet you are firmly opposed to frscking in the UK and increased investment in nuclear and exploration of UK energy resources.
      Make your mind up.

    3. Sam
      December 19, 2023

      So SG nothing to do with the costs of Covid nor Central Banks huge increases in money supply?
      Come on, get real.

  8. Denis Cooper
    December 19, 2023

    Sir John, I would agree with your points 1, 2 and 3, but on 4 on the Bank’s remit I question the sense in sticking to the 2% inflation target no matter what happens – for example, an unexpected war with Russia causing world energy prices to rise sharply – and on point 5 I think Parliament should also have questioned the inflexibility of the Bank’s remit before the system was allowed to operate mechanistically to inflict an unnecessary degree of damage on the economy in general, and on individuals, and also incidentally on your party!

    To repeat an earlier offering:

    https://www.cityam.com/with-current-inflation-targets-the-bank-of-england-will-drive-us-into-a-deeper-recession/

    “With current inflation targets, the Bank of England will drive us into a deeper recession”

    “As its remit is set by Parliament, Andrew Bailey and the rest of the MPC canā€™t simply say that they will not try and get inflation down to 2 per cent. While unconventional, Bailey should ask the Chancellor to change its remit so that its inflation target is 3 per cent. This slightly higher figure would be easier for the Bank to meet without triggering a recession. Initially it will be seen as an awkward moving of the goal posts, but the Bank of England exists to serve the people of the UK, not to boost the egos of policy makers. Asking for a change in its remit is the right thing to do economically.”

    He was a bit late with that suggestion:

    http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2022/08/29/competition-is-the-best-regulator/#comment-1337833

    “And nothing else counts apart from the 2% inflation target: business bankruptcies, member state government bankruptcies, mass unemployment, homelessness, family and society breakdown, none of that matters.

    Thank goodness that weā€™re not part of that EU system and donā€™t need to follow down the same mad path with the same mad domestic response to mainly imported inflation.”

    1. Denis Cooper
      December 19, 2023

      Once again, the alternative view does not pass moderation.

      Reply Try writing your own view more succinctly. Anything long full of quotes causes me difficulty in finding the time to read links and assess it. The links have already been published anyway.

      1. Mickey Taking
        December 20, 2023

        Denis – I doubt many of us have the day to spend thoroughly reading and researching your points, which are amongst the longest written contributions. Make ’em snappy please.

        1. Denis Cooper
          December 20, 2023

          Thank you for your helpful advice.

  9. Denis Cooper
    December 19, 2023

    Off topic, that was a rather strange debate on the WHO treaty yesterday afternoon:

    https://parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/5e1f14d2-72b3-488f-a53c-fc94fee92dac

    It harks back to the gross deceits practised by the government when we joined the EEC:

    http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2023/12/18/the-western-rules-based-system/#comment-1425022

    “Move along now, there’s nothing to see here.”

    1. Ian B
      December 19, 2023

      @Denis Cooper – where does the WHO get its democratic over-site from? Who voted for WHO? Who is WHO responsible to?

      1. Denis Cooper
        December 19, 2023

        Why ask me?

    2. Christine
      December 19, 2023

      This debate has only been brought about by the few enlightened members of the public who have signed a petition to get this topic discussed. What is wrong with our government which has been secretly and without agreement or discussion with the British people been pushing for these amendments to the WHO treaties? These treaty amendments will cause us to lose sovereignty over our health and include the climate change scam, also we will have to contribute billions of pounds to these unelected people and have no scrutiny over where it goes. It seems a recipe for fraud and more dictatorial legislation being foisted upon us.

      1. Denis Cooper
        December 19, 2023

        What is wrong with our government now is the same as what was wrong with our government when they first took us into the EEC and later when they duped us to vote to stay in it.

        Basically they do not believe in our national sovereignty and the legal supremacy of our national Parliament.

      2. Donna
        December 20, 2023

        The many senior members of the Establishment have been working towards/promoting a One World Government for decades. As a member of the Bilderberg Group Denis Healey was fairly candid about it. From The Guardian, (a rag I seldom read)
        https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/mar/10/extract1

        “This is how Denis Healey described a Bilderberg person to me: “To say we were striving for a one-world government is exaggerated, but not wholly unfair. Those of us in Bilderberg felt we couldn’t go on forever fighting one another for nothing and killing people and rendering millions homeless. So we felt that a single community throughout the world would be a good thing.”

        He said, “Bilderberg is a way of bringing together politicians, industrialists, financiers and journalists. Politics should involve people who aren’t politicians. We make a point of getting along younger politicians who are obviously rising, to bring them together with financiers and industrialists who offer them wise words. It increases the chance of having a sensible global policy.”

        Completely undemocratic ….. reminds me of the WEF.

    3. Stred
      December 19, 2023

      https://youtu.be/7gs8ZKK9TSs?si=JtgR7Swb17bVB_u5
      Congratulations on being one of the few MPs to turn up at the debate on handing control of health to the WHO and their funding pharma companies and billionaire manipulators. Your concise speech was selected by John Campbell, as it put the failure of the WHO into perspective. The MPs who took no interest or support handling over control to this supranational body should be ashamed of themselves.

      1. Stred
        December 19, 2023

        https://youtu.be/k4BjVEV0dnU?si=0HY5ZF1R_kqwGWXv
        Congratulations also to Philip Davies

      2. Donna
        December 20, 2023

        +1
        Every MP who attended and spoke in the defence of our Sovereignty and personal autonomy when it comes to medical interventions deserves our thanks.

  10. Roy Grainger
    December 19, 2023

    The hopeless Andrew Bailey, having failed through inaction at the FCA to prevent several financial scandals, was appointed to the BoE job by PM Boris Johnson and Chancellor Sajid Javid. So for Johnson’s supporters to moan about Bailey’s inaction inflation now is a bit rich.

  11. Sea_Warrior
    December 19, 2023

    Good piece – but I wonder what percentage of your colleagues would understand any of the points you make.
    Allowing the Bank to get into the bond market and worrying about climate change were mistakes that should be rectified.

    1. Denis Cooper
      December 19, 2023

      Alistair Darling got the Bank to rig the gilts market so that he could borrow more to fund the budget deficit, at a time that the Labour government was having to borrow a quarter of all the money it was spending.

      From June 28 2009:

      http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2009/06/28/second-jobs-for-teachers/#comment-18426

      “Now when the government spends four pounds, it has to borrow one of them ā€“ ā€œlend us a quid, mateā€ ā€“ ; itā€™s borrowing close to a billion pounds every working day just to keep going ā€“ ā€œlend us a billion, mateā€- ; and itā€™s blindingly obvious that this canā€™t continue indefinitely.

      And it can only borrow on this stupendous scale because the Bank of England is creating new money and using it to buy previously issued gilts from private investors, at the same time as the Treasury is selling new gilts to (in many cases, the same) private investors …”

      That was the essence of QE as practised in the UK – the government rigging the market in its one bonds.

    2. Atlas
      December 19, 2023

      Agreed.

  12. Javelin
    December 19, 2023

    It appears that the BofE Quango, just like the WHO, is without proper scrutiny or accountability.

    This whole situation reminds me of Lord Of The Flies. With Ralph (The Government) failing as a leader by being voted in based on their looks but failing to adapt to being manipulated by Jack. Jack (The Technocrats) want power at all costs, avoid responsibility and use fear to manipulate the small boys. Simon (John Redwood) plays the moral narrator who points out all the failings of the group dynamics.

    1. Ian B
      December 19, 2023

      @Javelin – but part of the Socialist WEF project for the ‘Great Reset’ that this Conservative Government is following to the letter daily. To hell with democracy it has no place in this Conservative Governments new world.

    2. glen cullen
      December 19, 2023

      ‘The OBR has no formal relationship with the Bank of England, although we meet regularly with Bank staff to discuss forecasting issues of mutual interest’ https://obr.uk/faq/what-relationship-do-you-have-with-the-bank-of-england/
      So you have the BoE, OBR, the UN WEF and the UN IMF all unelected, all working together (it seems) against the policies of the government and wishes of the people eg, Liz

      1. glen cullen
        December 19, 2023

        The OBR is also a member of a voluntary network created by European Union IFIs, as well as participating in meetings of EU IFIs convened by the European Commission

  13. Narrow Shoulders
    December 19, 2023

    Both the FCA and the Bank of England are blinkered by their drive for diversity and equality and net zero ahead of practicalities and economic certainties.

    The man on the street can see what they monetary committee can not (including that not everyone is equal and a man can not be a woman).

    1. glen cullen
      December 19, 2023

      Building empires with taxpayers money

  14. Michelle
    December 19, 2023

    It is a relief when you are no longer a voice in the wilderness.
    So they’ve had their various committee meetings and reports are churned out and no doubt many bustling around thinking they’ve invented the wheel, but what now?

    Things are in such an appalling state here my money is on the word ‘diverse’ in point 2 and ‘recruitment’ in point 5, as being a priority, but nothing to do with diversity of opinion and/or experience, though that in itself doesn’t always lead to cohesion and therefore efficiency.

  15. Javelin
    December 19, 2023

    Talking of quangos (and grifters) the sales of EV cars were predicted to be 67% of car sales by 2027. That figure has been revised down to 38%. Back in reality the number sold has fallen from 17% to 16%.

    Just like a communist 5 year retail plan, nobody wants to buy the technocrats vision.

    1. Chris S
      December 19, 2023

      Absolutely right, Javelin, but Sunak and Hunt have stupidly just pushed through the penalties for car manufacturers based on their original, ludicrously optimistic sales targets for EVs.

      With penalties at Ā£15,000 per car, manufacturers are either going to have to hugely increase the ticket price of IC-engined cars, which will dramatically cut sales of all cars, or the government is going to have to do a screeching U turn.

      I suspect that Green civil servants are already telling ministers that if the penalties push the price of IC cars up to match EV prices, private buyers will switch to EVs. They won’t. They will keep the cars they have and won’t buy any new cars at all.

      1. Mickey Taking
        December 19, 2023

        I feel a total crash of the car market as Chris predicts. Punters will not buy what they don’t want. Imagine what a year of zero ‘new’ car purchases would do! Factories halt production (assembly in the UK!) , imports of components stop, mass redundancies, large hike in unemployment benefits, financial companies with money to lend but no takers, but hundreds of thousands of potential purchasers looking at where to invest their saved money!

        1. ChrisS
          December 20, 2023

          We can only hope that common sense will prevail, however, the problem will not become too serious until 2025, by which time we may have a change of government. Labour would be even more committed to ending sales of IC-engined cars, so common sense will probably not enter into their decidion making.

          There is another problem that is not being addressed : All the private buyers I know who have bought EVs have bought small ones, normally it’s a BMW Mini to use exclusively for very short journeys. All of them have a larger diesel car for longer trips.

          The problem is that these EVs will never do enough mileage to overcome the 60-80,000 miles needed to overcome the extra emission created by building them. It means that most private buyers of EVs are contributing to global warming, not reducing it !

  16. Donna
    December 19, 2023

    Well done for consistently highlighting the Bank of England’s mistaken policies and failures and it is certainly good news that others are now recognising that you were right.

    It rather makes you wonder why the “genius” in No 10 who is the former Chancellor, and the current Chancellor (having completely failed to prepare the NHS to cope with what was basically a bad ‘flu year) didn’t also recognise the problem and do something about it.

    Bailey and chums are a wrecking ball who are busily demolishing what’s left of our economy. Why are they still in post?

  17. agricola
    December 19, 2023

    The BOE are merely a symptom of the general decline of all UK institutions through an excess of politics and incompetense. Nothing works.

    1. majorfrustration
      December 19, 2023

      Spot on +++. Doubt if anybody will listen/ read or act upon the HoL recommendations.

  18. David Andrews
    December 19, 2023

    It is good to see others reiterate your arguments about the Bank of England. Perhaps it is time to look at other dire situations in the financial services industry such as the decline of the London Stock Exchange. I read that c57% of shares are now foreign owned, only c10% is private UK shareholder owned. NASDAQ is openly looking to tempt UK companies away from the LSE to list on its exchange and with some success. Is it not about time that the government and the Treasury remove the obvious disincentives to UK investors investing in the UK? How will the country renew itself, as it must, if investment is discouraged, and heavily penalised by taxation?

    1. formula57
      December 19, 2023

      @ Dave Andrews – quite so and rumours of encourgaing share buying circulated before the Autumn Statement (revisions to equity ISAs) but for the wary it looks akin to encouraging diesel car ownership for how soon before the rug is pulled?

  19. Dave Andrews
    December 19, 2023

    The BoE knows if they engineer a recession Brexit will be blamed and they and their establishment chums can bang the drum to rejoin.

  20. Ian B
    December 19, 2023

    Sir John
    While its right to point out the failings of the BoE and there are many more than would be acceptable in the real World, it is at the same time not possible to let the BoEā€™s real ā€˜managementā€™ off without a mention. It is this Conservative Government that is failing as they are the ultimate ā€˜managerā€™ and responsible entity for all the BoEā€™s failings.
    But, just all the other areas of failure in the UK today, those responsible, those in Control are refusing to manage, refusing their duty to the UK People ā€“ our (the UKā€™s) woes are 100% with this Conservative Government. They are continuing the Blair/Brown destruction of society and freedoms, in practice that means the destruction of the UK by their refusal to ā€˜manageā€™, so much so it is emerging to be the plan all along ā€“ the Socialist WEF ā€˜Great Resetā€™ being played out big time in front of our eyes.

  21. Mickey Taking
    December 19, 2023

    Off Topic – but never far away!
    Rishi Sunak is meeting just one of the five priorities he set out at the start of the year, according to BBC analysis.
    In January, the prime minister pledged to halve inflation, grow the economy, cut UK debt, reduce NHS waiting lists and “stop the boats”.
    But BBC analysis of the government’s progress so far suggests two of the priorities are not being met, while two others remain in the balance.ā€Æ
    Mr Sunak has said people should judge him on the government’s results.
    “I will only promise what I can deliver. And I will deliver what I promise”, he told voters in January, while announcing the five government priorities.
    Mr Sunak pledged to reduce NHS waiting lists – but overall waiting lists have gone up.ā€Æ
    Mr Sunak also pledged to “stop the boats”. While the government has reduced numbers by more than a third, 29,400 people have crossed the Channel on small boats this year.
    Mr Sunak also pledged to reduce debt – but debt has been going up since the start of the year as a proportion of the economy. It stands at 98% of GDP, slightly higher than where it stood in January.
    The prime minister is, however, on track to meet his target of halving inflation by the end of the year.

    1. Mickey Taking
      December 19, 2023

      Now we have Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s claim that the government has reduced debt has been challenged by the UK’s statistics watchdog. The watchdog’s chairman said the assertion “may have undermined trust in the government’s use of statistics”.
      Surely not! Loss of trust in the Government ‘s version of statistics!

    2. formula57
      December 19, 2023

      @ Mickey Taking – I await Mr. Sunak going full Blair and redefining the pledges as aspirations, moreover ones that it was never realistic to suppose could be met in the term of the current parliament.

      1. Mickey Taking
        December 20, 2023

        and now no date required to meet ‘I will stop the boats!’

  22. Ian B
    December 19, 2023

    OFT – but illustrates the problems faced by society under this Conservative Government
    ā€œSir Jacob Rees-Mogg said the Equality Act should be scrapped to tackle ā€œwokeryā€ and restore common sense to the workplace.ā€œ
    The Equality Act is misplaced naming it is the Discrimination Act every part of it is there to create and legitimise discrimination

  23. formula57
    December 19, 2023

    Well done šŸ™‚

    I regret my own M.P. has not yet joined you but I continue to press.

  24. a-tracy
    December 19, 2023

    The way I see it, this is all being orchestrated to get rid of your government.
    Civil servants in both parliament and the BoE appear to be showing their true colours by now appearing as potential MP candidates for the Labour Party. What do they need a Labour government to do, tie us up in the Single Market? Stop Kemi’s global reach project? What have the Conservative government actually said no to, because its been behaving like a socialist government for so long

    Your party should have sorted this out years ago. Why weren’t they listening to you? I’ve been listening to you for a couple of years on this subject.

  25. Original Richard
    December 19, 2023

    ā€œThe Bank of England seems to be the one that makes the reverse error more severely by encouraging a recession.ā€

    Why?

    To quote Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle : When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

    The Treasury is run by a communist fifth column and its mission is to cause a recession and impoverish the country using the CAGW hoax to net zero our economy and reduce us to a third world country.

    Since the current PM and Chancellor are keeping the Governor of the BoE in post and at the same time enacting legislation to fine us from next year Ā£15,000 per ice vehicle and Ā£3,000 per gas boiler that are bought over a rapidly diminishing quota allowance, shows that they are in fact in line with the Treasury.

  26. Iain Moore
    December 19, 2023

    I presume, when teaching economics at school, children would be taught that if governments prints a lot of money then there is a serious risk of inflation, clearly this was an economic theory which was too complex for the BoE to understand.

    As an aside , I would like to thank you for attending the WHO petitions debate, and making your own contribution regarding the WHO power grab . It is shameful that no one from the opposition parties , other than the Shadow Minister, saw fit to attend , and shows that the only opposition in Parliament, in defence our democracy and freedoms, comes from the Conservative right, for the bulk of the Conservative party, and all the rest would happily cede power to the WHO .

  27. George
    December 19, 2023

    Hi sir John
    If this was in the private sector He would be sacked
    or asked to resign,
    in government it put out as resigning for personal or family reasons,
    We need a change at BOE
    We are Going to get a change of government next year maybe they will do it
    Thank you

  28. glen cullen
    December 19, 2023

    The BoE selling bonds and Iceland volcano erupting …..its all climate change; man-made climate change (quick import more energy from france, more EVs from china and employ more diversity & net-zero officers)

    1. Mickey Taking
      December 19, 2023

      now if we had not had an industrial revolution there would not have been any volcano eruptions.
      Discuss.

  29. Bryan Harris
    December 19, 2023

    It will take more than a little criticism for the Bank to change its way – supported by the Treasury, they will not back down.

    With so many failings surely, if this was a private concern, the decision makers at the Bank would have been out on their ears.

    Let’s not go easy on these people – they have deliberately pursued the wrong programs to fall in line with WEF policies.

  30. Bloke
    December 19, 2023

    Something which depends on having the cost of its errors paid for by others is not independent but dependent on many others for survival.

  31. oldwulf
    December 19, 2023

    “The Bankā€™s remit including matters like climate change is too wide and should be more focused on inflation”

    The Bank’s remit is provided by HM Treasury.
    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/monetary-policy-remit

    “They want documents published about the state guarantees against Bank losses, and see this has brought into question the Bankā€™s independence”

    The remit from HM Treasury doesn’t look much like independence to me.

  32. James1
    December 19, 2023

    There’s much to criticise the Bank of England governor and the MPC for. Not the least of which is how a group within the bank called the ‘Monetary Policy Committee’ can ignore monetary policy. Perhaps they are just too highly educated, or have forgotten what first year economics students could have imparted to them, namely that the quantity of money matters. The whole board should be sacked, The people who appointed them should also be sacked

  33. Keith from Leeds
    December 19, 2023

    Until Andrew Bailey is sacked nothing will change. I would also sack the MPC and replace them with people who are actually involved in what is happening in the real world.

  34. Chris S
    December 19, 2023

    With Bailey’s track record at the FSA, he should never have got the bank job and his pathetic performance should have seen him replaced a couple of years age, at least.

    Rates have, as usual, been put up at least 25 basis points more than necessary. In reality, it’s probably 50 points too much, enough to do serious damage in the first half of 2024. Yet Bailey is trying to dampen any thoughts of rate reductions in the foreseeable future.
    It is obvious that he’s wrong on both counts, as usual. Rates will have to start falling by mid-2024, ideally, the first cut should be in February or March.

  35. Bert+Young
    December 19, 2023

    If a system fails the management in control has to be investigated and changes made . There is no point in looking at the bottom of the tree . Delay in taking action always has effects that last for considerable periods of time with consequences that simply spread the results further . Downing Street are the top of the tree and the changes have to occur in the BoE . Voters are handicapped due to the periods of time that prevent them from acting ; this is not the case with Downing Street . I have no doubt what the cycle action should be .

  36. Ian Done
    December 19, 2023

    I agree – the economic model for this country does not work. At 56 years of age I have seen the same pattern repeated irrespective of government. Property inflation beyond affordability followed by interest rate rises, consumer price rises and fuel price increases always followed by recession. George Osborn could see this and kept it under control.

  37. Berkshire Alan
    December 19, 2023

    Pleased you are now getting some support and traction with your views John.

    Let us hope that something positive will come out of it, within a sensible timescale.
    You will forgive me for not holding my breath !

    1. Mickey Taking
      December 19, 2023

      You could hold your breath and reduce CO2.?

  38. Ralph Corderoy
    December 19, 2023

    ‘The Bank of England seems to be the one that makes the reverse error more severely by encouraging a recession.’

    Because that is its aim.ā€‚Its incentives may not be clear but should be sought.

  39. Merrie+qubus
    December 19, 2023

    Can the Governor of the Bank be deposed?

  40. Derek
    December 19, 2023

    Never mind the BoE not listening, what about the Chancellor and the Treasury? Are they not the officials who can hire and fire the Governor? Mr Bailey has done nothing but mess up since he became boss at Threadneedle Street making the disaster that was Carney before him, worse. We need the old talents of Eddie George and Mervyn King back in the BoE, before we have a currency crisis. The current batch do not cut it.

  41. John Holloway
    December 19, 2023

    Should the BofE continue to pay interest on Clearing Bank reserves held by the Bank? The Reform party believes if this was stopped, there would be billions to reduce taxes or bolster public services. The BofE thinks the practice helps it control the money supply by supporting Bank Rate.

  42. Linda Brown
    December 19, 2023

    Seems to me we need people who have worked their way up through the ranks of businesses instead of this little band of people who are passed round into all the top jobs. It used to be that you spent a number of years on a job before you were considered for promotion to another post or sideways move. Now it seems that anyone can move around all types of businesses and come from abroad from different types of workings and take over top jobs. This is why we now have people who keep making mistakes as they are not familiar with the work they are in charge of.

    1. Mickey Taking
      December 19, 2023

      Friends of friends…

  43. Barbara Ramskill
    December 20, 2023

    About time, they are out of control.

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