No rate rise without a pay rise
1 November, 2017The markets believe it. As the Bank of England is expected to raise interest rates on Thursday morning for the first time in more than a decade, the pound has climbed steadily against the dollar. Yet it’s unprecedented, and extremely risky, to raise rates at a time when real wages are falling. With many households [...]
Poll shows 85% of MPs don’t know where money comes from
27 October, 2017The results of a new poll of MPs reveal a worrying lack of understanding of the UK’s money and banking system across the House of Commons. The poll finds that only 15% of MPs are aware of how most money is created in the modern economy. We commissioned polling company, Dods, to give a cross-section [...]
Why diversity matters at the Bank of England
25 October, 2017The Bank of England’s mission is to ‘promote the good of the people of the United Kingdom’, but it won’t be able to do so until it is more representative of the population at large. That’s why we’re supporting the Treasury Select Committee’s call for the Chancellor to appoint a more diverse range of candidates [...]
Party people
11 October, 2017Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn might propose radically different solutions, but their speeches at this year’s party conferences showed a common understanding of the fundamental challenges facing the UK’s economy. The Prime Minister acknowledged that we’ve experienced nearly a decade of low growth, stagnating wages and pay restraint. She warned that the boom in the [...]
Nothing normal about the “new normal”
10 August, 2017The Bank’s decision to keep interest rates at 0.25% last week may seem like business as usual. But there’s nothing normal about the way that monetary policy is operating at the moment. The longer the rates remain as low as they are, the more obvious it becomes that they’re no longer an effective monetary policy [...]
Nothing normal about the “new normal”
10 August, 2017The Bank’s decision to keep interest rates at 0.25% last week may seem like business as usual. But there’s nothing normal about the way that monetary policy is operating at the moment. The longer the rates remain as low as they are, the more obvious it becomes that they’re no longer an effective monetary policy [...]
Bank ill-equipped to navigate uncertain future
16 March, 2017The Bank of England will announce its latest interest rate decision later today. The monetary policy committee, including departing Deputy Governor Charlotte Hogg, is expected vote to keep rates just above zero. Mark Carney says that growth has remained resilient since the EU referendum. But with so much uncertainty on the horizon; including elections in [...]
Tough choices for the Bank as inflation rises
2 February, 2017The Bank of England revealed today that it forecasts inflation to rise to 2.8%, well above its 2% target. The combination of rising prices, stagnating incomes and slowing employment growth is bad news for households, as they face a higher cost of living across the board. Currently, the Bank’s policies of low interest rates and [...]
British people borrow at fastest rate in 11 years
13 January, 2017According to new data from the Bank of England, consumer borrowing increased by its fastest rate for more than a decade in the run-up to the festive period, reaching levels not seen since the peak of the financial crisis. Consumer debt rose by 10.8 percent in total during the past 12 months – with credit card [...]