MPs from all parties were being urged today to back changes to the Financial Services Bill which would make the Court of the Bank of England far more accountable to Parliament.
Andrew Tyrie and most of his colleagues on the Treasury Select Committee have put down amendments to the Bill as part of their campaign to increase the accountability of the Bank of England.
In an unprecendented move Tyrie, the chairman of the committee, has written to all MPs explaining his move.
He said: “The committee proposals are designed to ensure that the Bank is made more accountable to Parliament and that its corporate governance is brought up to date. Both are needed, given the increased powers of the Bank under the Bill.”
The amendements tabled for this evening’s debate cover two areas:
-Requiring the Court to publish the minutes of its meetings within two weeks;
-Requiring the Court of the Bank, the nearest thing it has to a Board of Governors, to conduct retrospective reviews of the Bank’s performance, and (other than in exceptional cases) to publish the findings.
-Bank governor Sir Mervyn King has previously rejected Tyrie’s proposals over the Court, saying that they could “second-guess” the decisions of the Bank’s committees.
