MPs are debating the detail of the Budget today, and will doubtless pick over some of the lines from George Osborne’s round of interviews this morning, particularly the confusion over whether Help to Buy is available for those buying second homes. There are plenty of queries about whether the government’s new mortgage plans are actually very wise at all. The debate will inevitably focus on the doorstep issues on taxes and cuts. But will MPs talk about one of the most important elements of yesterday’s announcement? It wasn’t on petrol, and it wasn’t beer duty. It actually concerned monetary policy.
The first was that finally the Chancellor wants the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee to be open about flexible inflation targeting: up to now the Bank has been missing its 2 per cent target but without any formal blessing from politicians. Inflation has been above 3 per cent in 13 of 24 quarters in the last four years.
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