Nigel Farage today urged the Bank of England to welcome cryptocurrencies in talks at Threadneedle Street.
The Reform UK leader also used his first formal meeting with the Bank’s Governor Andrew Bailey to demand a change of course on quantitative easing (QE).
Despite having previously branded Mr Bailey as ‘hopeless’, Mr Farage suggested the discussions this morning had been positive.
Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice, who also attended the meeting, described it as a ‘significant moment’ and said Mr Bailey was ‘keen to engage’.
Mr Bailey is said to have reached out to Mr Farage to arrange the meeting with him and Mr Tice, as Reform continues to hold a lead over Labour in most opinion polls.
Mr Farage has previously attacked the Bank as ‘dinosaurs’ and claimed they are stifling growth by curbing cryptocurrency ownership.
He has also frequently been critical of the Bank’s QE programme, described as ‘printing money’ to buy government bonds and keep borrowing costs low.
Reform has promised a £40billion tax cut for Britons by ending the paying of interest to banks on reserves held at Threadneedle Street, most of which were created as part of the QE programme.
Nigel Farage today urged the Bank of England to welcome cryptocurrencies in talks at Threadneedle Street
Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice, who also attended the meeting, described it as a ‘significant moment’ and said Bank Governor Andrew Bailey was ‘keen to engage’
Mr Farage’s party has also called for an end to the Bank’s voluntary quantitative tightening (QT), which has seen it run down its stock of the government bonds it bought through QE at a loss.
Ahead of this morning’s meeting with Mr Bailey, Mr Farage said he wanted to discuss cryptocurrency with the Governor.
He described the UK’s current approach as ‘madness’, while Mr Tice said he wanted to address the cost of the Bank’s QE programme.
Mr Farage has become a vocal supporter of cryptocurrency in recent years, announcing in May that Reform would begin accepting donations in Bitcoin and calling for the Bank to create a ‘strategic reserve’ of the digital asset.
He also said the Bank was ‘turning their back on it (cryptocurrency) completely’.
After the meeting, Mr Farage said the discussion of cryptocurrency had been ‘encouraging’, but he thought the Bank was still ‘moving a little too slowly’ on the issue.
He said: ‘I think they’re adopting an overly cautious approach. What he [Mr Bailey] did say was, in that world, that they are looking at it. He said ‘our minds are not closed on this issue’.’
Reform said Mr Bailey had agreed that QE and QT was an important public policy debate and he would welcome more parliamentary engagement.
Mr Tice said in a statement: ‘If Parliament via the Chancellor of the Exchequer gave a different steer to the Bank of England this could significantly reduce the need for tax rises at the Budget.
‘Subsequently I will be writing to the Chancellor and the Leader of the House requesting an urgent debate as soon as Parliament returns.’
