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14 September 2016
Debate on QE in the House of Commons – Will your MP be there?
We’ve got an exciting opportunity on our hands.
We’ve got an exciting opportunity on our hands. This Thursday, MPs will debate the government’s quantitative easing (QE) policy in the House of Commons. [1] Chancellor Philip Hammond is hoping QE will kickstart the economy. But we know QE only makes the richest richer, pumps up property markets, and does nothing for the rest of us. [2]
Thursday’s debate is a unique chance for MPs to hear the truth about QE – it’s not working and it’s driving inequality. But MPs don’t have to go. To convince them it’s a debate they don’t want to miss, they need to know it’s an issue their constituents care about, and that more and more experts think QE is not working. Together, we can do that.
Thousands of Positive Money supporters are emailing their MPs over the next 24 hours to ask them to go to Thursday’s debate. Please will you email your MP now too? There’s some suggested text alongside your MP’s email address, so it should take you less than two minutes:
In the last few weeks, the Positive Money campaign has shifted up a gear, because of exciting new opportunities to shine a light on the government’s unfair and ineffective monetary policies.
In August, the Bank of England announced six months of quantitative easing – that’s six months of Bank of England-created money being pumped into the financial economy (to benefit the richest people in society who own financial assets), instead of the real economy (where almost all of us live). We knew this was our key chance to show that this policy only benefits the very richest. And that there are other ways of creating money into the economy that work for everyone in society.
So Positive Money supporters jumped into action. More than 6000 of us signed the petition calling for an end to QE, we did a media stunt outside the Bank of England days after QE was announced, and we got media coverage in the Times and Bloomberg, along with backing from 35 economists in the Guardian. [3]
And now the campaign’s making waves in Westminster. SNP MP Ian Blackford called for the debate on Thursday and he’s pushing his fellow MPs to come along. [4]
With more and more economists realising that QE isn’t working, and even the Prime Minister acknowledging that QE increases inequality, Thursday’s debate is a real opportunity to get the House of Commons buzzing with calls for a rethink. [5]
The more MPs who are there, the more likely the government will feel the pressure to stop QE and shift their thinking on money reform in the long run. Together, let’s make as much noise around Thursday’s debate as we can.
Please, will you email your MP now, and invite them to Thursday’s debate on QE?
[2] https://bsd.wpenginepowered.com/page/s/create-money-for-people
http://bsd.wpenginepowered.com/2016/08/create-money-for-people-not-financial-markets/
http://bsd.wpenginepowered.com/about/in-the-press/
[4] https://twitter.com/IBlackfordSNPMP/status/773934137032015872?lang=en-gb
[5] http://bsd.wpenginepowered.com/2016/07/will-new-pm-make-sure-monetary-policy-works-everyone/