Alistair Darling threatens to strip Bank of England of power
The dramatic fallout between the UK government, Mervyn King and the Bank of England has been taken to a new level today with news Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, is contemplating stripping the Bank of England of key regulatory powers. This is a serious development because the Bank of England has been central to the UK financial system and regulatory system for hundreds of years. It has the potential to polarise both the Labour Party policy on the financial sector and the Conservative party policy yet further.
It is also worth remembering that it was the Labour Party which gave the Bank of England total autonomy and independence from the government but yet again we stand on the verge of a significant U-turn. If Alistair Darling goes ahead with this threat, which many believe he would not stand a chance of pushing through, this could spell the end of the current Labour government and a serious backlash from voters and those in the financial sector. If anything the ongoing spat highlights the fact that the Bank of England is not "a yes man" for the UK government and does appear to have a mind of its own.
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