Liberal Democrats secure coronavirus briefing with Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey
Liberal Democrat MPs will get a briefing from Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey on Thursday in order to get a more “realistic” view of the British economy.
The closed door meeting will give the party’s 11 MPs a chance to quiz the Bank of England boss about the UK’s economic recovery prospects and the effectiveness of the government’s current plans.
It comes after Moody’s said on Friday that it expected the UK to be the worst affected major economy by the coronavirus crisis.
The ratings agency is predicting the nation’s GDP to shrink by 10.1 per cent this year.
The Liberal Democrats requested a meeting with Bailey, after it was reported last week that Labour and the 1922 committee of Tory backbenchers would get their own briefings.
A Liberal Democrat source said they hoped the Bank of England “can give us a realistic economic perspective”.
They added: “The government has failed to be express clarity on how they plan to take us through phase three [of its coronavirus recovery plan] and therefore we demanded a closed door briefing, as did other opposition parties.”
Liberal Democrat leadership challenger Layla Moran also wrote her own letter to Bailey to ask him to “explain the Bank’s current analysis on the economic impact of Covid-19 and listen to our views”.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak laid out the next phase of the government’s coronavirus recovery plans on Wednesday, announcing £30bn of spending in an effort to protect jobs and stoke economic growth.
Among the announcements was a temporary cut in VAT for the tourism and hospitality sectors, an increase in the stamp duty threshold to £500,000 and a “eat out to help out scheme” that sees the government partly subsidise meals out between Monday and Wednesday.
Sunak also announced a £2bn youth unemployment programme and a “furlough bonus scheme” where employers will receive £1000 for every furloughed employee they bring back until January.
Public borrowing this year is now set to hit £350bn, which would be 18 per cent of GDP – double that of the UK’s borrowing levels after the 2008 financial crash.