Labour’s good start
Surprising its friends as much as its foes, Britain’s new Labour government has begun boldly, by giving independence to the Bank of England
GORDON BROWN'S decision to grant the Bank of England “operational independence” in monetary policy is an astonishingly bold start for the new chancellor. Henceforth the Bank, not the Treasury, will set British interest rates. After waiting 18 years for power, Labour's first step is to hand the larger part of its ability to steer the economy to somebody else. As a constitutional innovation it ranks alongside devolution, reform of the House of Lords, voting reform and the other measures on Labour's agenda for constitutional change.
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “Labour’s good start”
From the May 10th 1997 edition
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