HL Deb 15 December 1992 vol 541 cc27-8WA
Lord Tebbit

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they intend to start before 1st January 1999 the process leading to the independence of the Bank of England.

The Earl of Caithness

The Government have no plans at present to start the process leading to the independence of the Bank of England. Under the terms of the United Kingdom protocol to the Maastricht Treaty, there would be no obligation to alter the status of the Bank of England unless the Government and Parliament first decided that the United Kingdom wished to move to the third stage of economic and monetary union.