Bank of England and Financial Services Bill — Decline Second Reading — 1 Feb 2016 at 19:02

The majority of MPs voted in favour of changes to governance arrangements for the Bank of England; for changes to the bank's regulatory role; and in favour of restricting authorisations to issue Scottish and Northern Irish banknotes.

The Bank of England and Financial Services Bill:

• Makes the Bank of England Deputy Governor for markets and banking a member of the court of directors of the Bank and a member of the interest rate setting Monetary Policy Committee.
• Gives the Government the power to make changes to the governance structure of the Bank of England via secondary legislation.
• Requires the minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee be published "as soon as reasonably practicable" following the meeting", with a delay permitted in cases where proceedings led to decision to intervene in the financial markets.
• Changes the required meeting frequency of the Monetary Policy Committee from "at least once a month" to at least eight times a year, and at least once in any 10 week period.
• Makes the Bank of England the Prudential Regulation Authority
• To restrict the authorisation to issue Scottish and Northern Irish banknotes to existing issuers, or other related banks.

MPs were considering the Bank of England and Financial Services Bill^[1].

The motion under debate was:

• That the Bill be now read a Second time.

The amendment which was the subject of this vote was:

• to leave out from “That” to the end of the Question and add
• “this House, whilst noting improvements made to the Bill in the House of Lords,
• declines to give the Bank of England and Financial Services Bill [Lords] a Second Reading because the Bill fails to increase oversight and accountability of the work of the Bank of England, because the Bill reduces regulation of financial services and because the Bill removes the reverse burden of proof with regard to personal responsibility in the Senior Managers and Certification Regime which was introduced following the cross-party Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards and enacted in the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013; and
• considers that there is no evidence base to justify the removal of the reverse burden of proof which has not yet been implemented.”

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• [1] Parliament's webpage on the Bank of England and Financial Services Bill
• [2] Explanatory notes accompanying the Bank of England and Financial Services Bill

Debate in Parliament | Source |