THE ECONOMIC TIMES

Analysing The Political Economy


Gov't Threatens Bank of England Over Inflation

The government have been silencing critics ever since the EU referendum. Senior MP’s went around threatening business leaders who had a legal responsibility to inform shareholders of impending threats to their investments. It was so common that many business leaders were forced into signing gag orders – some even had their position as CEOs threatened. Today, the Bank of England is being blamed by Tory MPs for inflationary pressures at home that are largely the fault of global events and Brexit.

Before the EU Referendum, this was being reported: “Tory MP John Redwood had ordered the corporate world in Britain to ‘toe-the-line’ or face the consequences of a post-Brexit Tory wrath that included being forcibly removed from their comfy corporate positions if they failed to do so.”

Today, we find such anti-democratic antics continue.

The FT reports today that senior Conservative MPs have turned on the Bank of England over its handling of inflation.

Boris Johnson’s party is feeling the political heat as the cost of living crisis intensifies and so some senior Tory MPs are now openly blaming the BoE, which has been operationally independent for 25 years, for losing its grip on prices.

Liam Fox, the disgraced Tory accused of breaching national security and failed Brexit negotiator, told the Commons that the BoE had “consistently underestimated the threat” of rising inflation, which the BoE fears could top 10 per cent later this year.

Fox said – “The BoE persisted beyond any rational interpretation of the data to tell us that inflation was transient, then that it would peak at 5 per cent.” If anything, this comment demonstrates how little Fox knows about basic economics.

Fox then went on to threaten the BoE by saying that the Commons Treasury select committee should launch an investigation into the central bank’s handling of inflation.

Robert Jenrick, a former Tory Treasury minister, told the FT: “The BoE missed the opportunity to gain control over inflation last year, arguing that it would be modest and transitory when it was clear to many of us that it would be high and longstanding.”

The director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, said: “It’s a little bit unfair to blame the BoE for the inflation problems we’re seeing, many of which are the consequence of the necessary stimulus that resulted from the coronavirus pandemic”.

 

 

 

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