NEW TARGETS FOR THE BANK OF ENGLAND

Early day motion 565, tabled 9 April 2001 by Austin Mitchell (Labour). Signed by 23 members.

That this House is concerned at the excessive caution of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, which has kept interest rates higher than required by a rate of inflation which has consistently undershot its 2.5 per cent. target, thus keeping the exchange rate too high for British competitiveness, leading to serious damage to manufacturing and the loss of nearly half a million jobs, as well as a failure to grasp the opportunities for fast growth which are available now inflation is no longer either a serious or the main problem facing the economy; and calls on government to replace the outdated and singular inflation target with a similar spread of policy objectives to those taken into account by the Federal Reserve including growth, unemployment, and the health of the economy but to require as the Bank's prime target maintaining a competitive exchange rate which will ensure that British production can compete successfully and that this country provides a profitable base in which to produce and from which to export.

Signatures by party: Labour 18, Labour/Co-operative 2, Plaid Cymru 2, Liberal Democrat 1.