Simon Youel
Sunak gives Bank of England green light to fight climate crisis
3 March, 2021London, 3 March 2021 - Rishi Sunak has today made a highly anticipated and important change to the Bank of England’s mandate, for the first time instructing the UK’s central bank to align its powerful monetary policy toolkit with the government’s net zero target. In his Budget speech, Sunak announced a new mandate for the [...]
QE or not to QE? Soaring inequality shows it’s time for a new macroeconomic approach
11 February, 2021February 11, 2021 If you just looked at property and financial markets, you’d be forgiven for thinking that we weren’t in the midst of a global pandemic which has left millions unemployed and large swathes of the economy locked down. UK house prices reached record highs in 2020, averaging more than £250,000 across the [...]
Concrete action needed to boost productive investment: Positive Money response to new productive investment working group
20 November, 2020London, 20 November 2020 - The Treasury, the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority will be convening an industry working group to facilitate investment in productive finance. Fran Boait, executive director of Positive Money, welcomed the announcement today but called for concrete action to guide investment towards the productive sustainable investment the real [...]
Sunak needs to pull his weight and spend more, after BoE buys up £150bn more bonds
5 November, 2020London, 5 November 2020 - Responding to the Bank of England announcing another £150bn of quantitative easing (QE) ahead of the Chancellor’s statement this afternoon, Fran Boait, executive director of Positive Money said: “The Bank of England’s decision to buy up another £150bn of government bonds ahead of the Chancellor’s statement this afternoon is a [...]
Bank of England hints at climate conditions for future support
24 September, 2020Central bank under fire from MPs on its Covid bailout scheme’s failure to protect jobs and the environment The Bank of England may attach climate conditions to asset purchases, a senior Bank of England official told MPs on the Environmental Audit Committee this morning, after coming under fire for the lack of strings attached to [...]
Bank of England told to “put your money where your mouth is” with green recovery
6 August, 2020London, 6 August 2020 - The Bank of England was the scene of protests this morning as campaigners called on Britain’s central bank to act on its pledges to support a green COVID recovery. Campaigners accused the Bank of England of failing on pledges to ‘build back better’ from the covid crisis, as recent research [...]
Business bailouts must build an economy that works for everyone
3 July, 2020Below is an open letter sent to the Prime Minister and opposition party leaders, calling for all state support for businesses to serve the wider public good, signed by Positive Money and leading civil society groups. It comes after Positive Money polling revealed that two-thirds of the public agree that bailouts should come with social [...]
Two-thirds of public want strings attached to bailouts
2 July, 2020Just 5% think no conditions should be attached to state financial support, as report reveals how the government’s pledge to ‘build back better’ is already being failed by corporate bailout scheme London, 2 July 2020 - Nearly two-thirds of the UK public think large corporations should only receive bailouts if they agree to protect jobs [...]
Positive Money response to BoE climate disclosure: Bank must put its money where its mouth is
18 June, 2020London, 18 June 2020 - Research and campaign group Positive Money has called for the Bank of England to act on the climate risk of its own balance sheet published today, by taking measures to ensure its activities are aligned with the government’s climate goals. The Bank of England’s first ever climate-related financial disclosure revealed [...]