Bailey says closer EU ties would boost UK economic growth
Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has argued that closer ties with the European Union would help lift British economic growth, in a rare public intervention on Brexit.
Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has said that closer ties with the European Union would boost economic growth in the United Kingdom, a rare public intervention on Brexit from the head of the country's central bank.
Bailey's central argument rests on trade. Easier commerce with the UK's nearest neighbours, he suggested, would support an economy that has struggled to gain momentum in recent years. The remarks place the central bank governor on one side of a debate that has returned to the political agenda, and they are the first comment he has made publicly since Andy Burnham revived the Brexit question.
The intervention is notable because the Bank of England rarely addresses the Brexit question directly. Central bank leaders typically confine themselves to inflation, interest rates and financial stability, leaving the terms of Britain's relationship with the EU to ministers and negotiators. Bailey's willingness to link that relationship to growth therefore stands out, particularly from a figure whose institution is responsible for monetary policy and whose assessments of the economy carry weight in Westminster and in financial markets.
The timing matters as well. Burnham's intervention reopened a debate that many in British politics had regarded as settled or set aside, and Bailey's response adds an authoritative economic voice at a point when the future shape of UK-EU relations is being contested. Because his comments were made against that backdrop, they are likely to be read as a contribution to the wider argument about whether the country should seek a closer working relationship with the bloc.
The available material does not include an estimate of how large any growth effect might be, and it does not specify which measures closer ties would involve or which of them Bailey backed. Nor does it contain the full text of his remarks or any accompanying figures on trade flows, investment or output. Without those details, the precise scope of his argument cannot be confirmed beyond the core claim that closer relations with the EU would support growth through easier trade with Britain's neighbours.
The intervention adds a voice with economic authority to a debate that has largely been framed around politics and sovereignty. Whether it will shift the policy discussion will depend on how any proposals are developed and how the government responds to calls for a closer economic relationship with the bloc. For now, the governor's remarks are a reminder that the economic consequences of Britain's relationship with the EU remain a live question, one that the country's central bank has now chosen to address in public.
Source: independent.co.uk
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