Tory MPs to grill Bank of England governor over high inflation
The Bank of England governor, Andrew Bailey, will face a grilling from angry Conservative MPs over inflation on Monday, as cabinet sources moved to quell the incendiary remarks about the Bank’s independence.
The governor’s appearance before MPs – which has been likened to the showdowns with former Bank boss Lord Mervyn King during the 2008 crash – will come amid intense work from the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to find new measures to ease the cost of living before the summer recess.
Labour will challenge Conservative MPs to vote for a windfall tax on oil and gas companies in an amendment to the Queen’s speech – a move Sunak has failed to rule out but which is intensely opposed by the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng.
Bailey’s appearance at the Treasury select committee will come in the aftermath of growing criticism of the Bank’s performance, including from some cabinet ministers, one of whom told the Telegraph they were now “questioning its independence”.
Cabinet sources moved to quell speculation, with one dismissing the prospect as “not even up for discussion”. Another cabinet minister called independence “sacrosanct” and said the Bank’s situation was not unique: “All central banks are grappling inflation.” A Downing Street source said that Boris Johnson was not entertaining the prospect.
Harriett Baldwin, one of the Tory MPs on the committee, said there were serious questions for the Bank to answer on inflation. “I have been flagging up for a long time now the risk of them misjudging things and putting in too much monetary stimulus into the economy for too long,” she said.
“When things started to open up again, they didn’t really take their foot off the pedal very quickly. There are things that have been unforeseen like
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