§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what supervisory powers over the Bank of England will be exercised by the European central bank under stage 3 of EMU if the British Government have announced their intention not to participate; and to what extent the provisions of the treaty requiring the Bank of England to be independent of government apply in these circumstances.
§ Mr. NelsonAccording to the protocol to the Maastricht treaty on certain provisions relating to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the independence provisions of article 107 of the treaty would not apply if the United Kingdom had notified the Council that it did not intend to move to the third stage of economic and monetary union. Accordingly, there would be no obligation to make the Bank of England independent.
The bank would, however, be subject to limited obligations under the European systems of central banks protocol, notably as regards the collection of statistical information (article 5), the obligation not to provide debt finance to public entities (article 21), any outstanding obligations arising from the bank's participation in the operating procedures for the EMS (article 44 together with article 6.1 of the European Monetary Institute protocol) and its obligation to provide a minimal percentage, if required to do so by the general council of the European central bank, towards the operating costs of the ECB (article 48).