To fight the economic crisis, the UK must end the myth of Bank of England independence

The government should use newly created money to fund the dramatic increase required in the national debt.

A man wearing protective face mask walks past the Bank of England in the City of London on March 30, 2020, as life in Britain continues during the nationwide lockdown to combat the novel coronavirus pandemic. - Life in locked-down Britain may not return to normal for six months or longer as it battles the coronavirus outbreak, a top health official warned on Sunday, as the death toll reached passed 1,200. (Photo by Tolga AKMEN / AFP) (Photo by TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images)

Remember the phoney lockdown, when social distancing meant working on your laptop in a coffee bar? Those days seem distant now. But we’re still, effectively, in the phoney fiscal stimulus.

On paper, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak has been forced to commit taxpayers’ money to the tune of 15 to 18 per cent of GDP to help businesses and households through a period of cratering demand. But it’s not working fast enough. Independent forecasters believe the UK’s GDP will contract by double digits in the second quarter of 2020.