Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of (a) expanding the base money supply and (b) other alternative monetary policy.

Monetary policy is the responsibility of the independent Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England. This includes decisions on Bank Rate and the stock of UK government bonds held in the Asset Purchase Facility.

It is for the MPC to judge how it uses its tools to maintain price stability and Bank Rate is the MPC’s primary macroeconomic tool. The separation of fiscal and monetary policy is a key feature of the UK’s economic framework, so the government does not comment on the conduct or effectiveness of monetary policy.