Bank of England MPC member in Manchester

By John Ashcroft

Bank of England MPC member Gertjan Vlieghe was in Manchester this week as a guest of pro-manchester. At a private dinner hosted by CEO John Ashcroft , at the Lowry Hotel, Jan engaged in a frank, open ‘off the record’ discussion about UK monetary policy and the future direction of interest rates.

The conversation ranged from the world economy, the future of employment, developments in AI and robotics. Much talk was made of Brexit and the impact on growth for the Manchester and UK economy.

Jan Vlieghe will begin his second term in office in September this year. He has voted on twenty-five occasions to date. Twice he voted to reduce rates in July and August in 2016 and so far has voted only once, in November last year, to hike rates.

Asked which way he planned to vote in May, when many analysts expect rates to rise, Jan declined to answer! No real surprise there.

Richard Cowan from Eversheds Sutherland said last night was “Informative and interesting.”

Richard continued: “I’ve been a regular attendee of pro-manchester events for a number of years and as a former chair of the trainee and also junior solicitors groups (some time ago now!) I’ve always been engaged in and interested in life wider than the confines of being a banking lawyer.”

Tony O’Gara from Towergate Insurance was impressed, “this was not my usual mid-week dinner conversation, let’s face it.” Tony is so modest!

Norman Molyneux from Acceleris said “It was a real pleasure to hear a speaker from the Bank of England here in Manchester. Another great pro-manchester event.”

The Bank of England MPC members undertake many visits around the country over the course of the year. It was great to welcome Gertjan Vlieghe to Manchester. An opportunity to explain the many exciting developments taking place in the city region and of course to explain the great progress of pro-manchester.