Farage presses Bank governor on cryptocurrency and quantitative easing

Nigel Farage has urged the Bank of England to welcome cryptocurrency and change its approach to quantitative easing during his first formal meeting with its governor.

The Reform UK leader, who has previously described Bank governor Andrew Bailey as “hopeless”, suggested the meeting had been a positive one.

Mr Farage’s deputy Richard Tice, who also attended the meeting, described it as a “significant moment” and said Mr Bailey was “keen to engage”.

Ahead of the meeting at Threadneedle Street, Mr Farage said he wanted to discuss cryptocurrency with the governor, describing the UK’s current approach as “madness”, while Mr Tice said he wanted to address the cost of the Bank’s money printing programme.

Mr Farage has become a vocal supporter of cryptocurrency in recent years, announcing in May that Reform would begin accepting donations in Bitcoin and calling for the Bank to create a “strategic reserve” of the digital asset.

He also said the Bank was “turning their back on it (cryptocurrency) completely”.

After the meeting, he said their discussion of cryptocurrency had been “encouraging”, but he thought the Bank was still “moving a little too slowly” on the issue.

He said: “I think they’re adopting an overly cautious approach. What he did say was, in that world, that they are looking at it.

“He said ‘our minds are not closed on this issue’.”

Mr Tice also welcomed Mr Bailey’s comments on quantitative easing and quantitative tightening, which Reform has previously criticised as causing significant taxpayer losses.

The party has pledged to save “tens of billions” of pounds by stopping interest payments on central bank deposits and halting quantitative tightening.

Mr Tice has called for a debate on the subject in Parliament to take place ahead of the Budget in November, saying it could change the Chancellor’s calculations.

He said: “We had an important, big discussion about quantitative easing, whether the Bank should be paying interest on that, and what we’ve agreed is, actually, this is a matter for Parliament.”

Mr Farage said: “The debate Richard is trying to have, the governor didn’t say ‘no’, he said we should be having that debate.”

The Reform leader also insisted he had not called for a further interest rate cut, despite reports suggesting he would, telling reporters: “That’s not our job to do that.”

He did not answer when asked whether the Bank’s independence would be safe under a Reform government, saying: “What I think the problem is, I’m not actually sure that in Parliament anyone really understands what the relationship between fiscal policy, monetary policy and the relationship with the Bank is.”

Talking to reporters ahead of his meeting with Mr Bailey, Mr Farage also suggested he would return financial regulation to the Bank of England, claiming the 2008 financial crash would have been less “severe” if the City had not been regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Meanwhile, research by campaign group Best for Britain suggested Mr Farage and his party remain vulnerable on the economy.

A survey of 3,000 would-be Reform voters carried out by YouGov found 57% rated attacks on Mr Farage’s spending plans and economic credentials the “most convincing” of a series of negative statements about the party.

Commenting on the results, Labour MP Liam Byrne urged his own party to “reset” its strategy on Reform and “take ruthless aim at the weak centre of their offer”.

The chairman of the Commons Business and Trade Committee said: “The reality is Nigel Farage is Liz Truss 2.0 – a false preacher of patriotism who would leave Britain poorer but the richest richer.

“He flirts with US-style health insurance, he cheered on the Truss mini-budget and now he’s peddling billions in unfunded promises that mean one thing for working families: higher mortgages, higher bills, weaker rights at work and longer NHS queues.”