Banking Bill

I absolutely would not allow the Bank of England's remit to be changed in a crisis. There is no point having an independent central bank if at the moment we get any kind of trouble, we suspend the remit or change the target. No independent central bank in the world would last if that were the case. The target set by the Government includes not just an inflation target but a responsibility on financial stability, and as last week's decision by the Governor demonstrated, he is perfectly capable of taking into consideration broader issues of financial stability as well as his inflation target remit. Frankly, it would not be sensible to suspend the independence of the Bank. The very concept of suspending independence is almost a contradiction in terms. It would not be independent.