The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is a committee of the Bank of England, which meets every month to decide the official interest rate in the United Kingdom. It comprises: The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom, sometimes known as The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street or The Old Lady. The Bank of England // Functions of the bank It performs all the recognized functions of a central bank -- to maintain price stability, and subject to... An interest rate is the rental price of money. ...

• The Governor of the Bank
• The two Deputy Governors
• The Bank's Chief Economist
• The Executive Director for Market Operations
• Four external members, appointed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer

Each member has one vote, with the Governor holding the casting vote in event of a tie. Representatives from the Treasury can attend the meeting, but only in a non-voting capacity. The Governor of the Bank of England is the most senior position in the Bank of England. ... The Rt. ... The new eastern entrance to HM Treasury HM Treasury (Her/His Majestys Treasury) is the United Kingdom government department responsible for and putting into effect the UK Governments financial and economic policy. ...

Meetings are held on the Wednesday and Thursday following the first Monday of each month. The interest rate decisions are announced at noon immediately following the Thursday meeting. In each meeting, the committee studies data relating to the UK economy, as well as the worldwide economy, presented by the Bank's economists and regional representatives. Decisions are made with a primary aim of price stability, defined by the government's inflation target, set each year in the Budget (for the 2004-2005 financial year, the target was 2 per cent on the consumer price index). The secondary aim of the committee is to support the government's economic policies, and targets for growth and employment. The United Kingdom, a leading trading power and financial centre, has the fourth largest economy in the world, the second largest in Europe, and is a member of the European Union. ... Price stability is zero, or a very low rate of, inflation. ... Budget generally refers to a list of all planned expenses and revenues. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... In economics, the Consumer Price Index (CPI, also retail price index) is a statistical measure of a weighted average of prices of a specified set of goods and services purchased by wage earners in urban areas. ...

Traditionally, it was the Treasury that set interest rates. The Bank was granted operational responsibility to set rates by Chancellor Gordon Brown on May 6, 1997, and the guidelines for this were formally laid out in the Bank of England Act 1998. The government reserves the right to instruct the Bank on what rate to set in times of emergency. This article is about the British Chancellor of the Exchequer. ... May 6 is the 126th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (127th in leap years). ... 1997 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Membership

To date, 17 men and 4 women have served on the MPC. They are:

• Sir Edward George (June 1997 – June 2003)
• Howard Davies (June – July 1997)
• Mervyn King (June 1997 – )
• Willem Buiter (June 1997 – May 2000)
• Charles Goodhart (June 1997 – May 2000)
• Ian Plenderleith (June 1997 – May 2002)
• David Clementi (September 1997 – August 2002)
• DeAnne Julius (September 1997 – May 2001)
• Sir Alan Budd (December 1997 – May 1999)
• John Vickers (June 1998 – September 2000)
• Sushil Wadhwani (June 1999 – May 2002)
• Christopher Allsopp (June 2000 – May 2003)
• Stephen Nickell (June 2000 – )
• Charles Bean (October 2000 – )
• Kate Barker (June 2001 – )
• Paul Tucker (June 2002 – )
• Marian Bell (June 2002 – June 2005)
• Sir Andrew Large (September 2002 – )
• Richard Lambert (June 2003 – )
• Rachel Lomax (July 2003 – )
• David Walton (July 2005 – )

Mervyn King, the Bank of England’s current Governor, is the only MPC member to have taken part in every meeting since 1997. Edward Alan John George, Baron George, GBE, PC, (born 1938), known as Eddie George, or Steady Eddie, was Governor of the Bank of England from 1993 to 2003. ... Mervyn Allister King (born 1948) is Governor of the Bank of England. ... Sir Alan Budd was a founding member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee in the summer of 1997. ... Rachel Lomax became Deputy Governor of the Bank of England on July 1, 2003. ...

External links

• Official homepage of the MPC
• Spreadsheet showing MPC votes since 1997
• Monetary Policy Committee Minutes