Lord Hughes of Woodside
Main Page: Lord Hughes of Woodside (Labour - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Hughes of Woodside's debates with the HM Treasury
(11 years, 2 months ago)
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Lord Newby
My Lords, there is obviously a tension in respect of interest rates in that some people benefit from low interest rates and some people lose from low interest rates. It is the Government’s view that low interest rates are in the interests of the economy in promoting growth in a very difficult economic environment.
Lord Hughes of Woodside
My Lords, given that the Minister was in purdah the last time I raised this issue, can he now say what the possibility is of banks being allowed to levy negative interest on savings accounts? Who will be in charge of this, as the new Governor of the Bank of England has said that he was within days of doing this in Canada? Who is going to protect savings?
Lord Newby
My Lords, I do not think that anybody in the Bank of England and the MPC at the moment is suggesting that we move to negative interest rates.