An insult to taxpayers... Bank of England gives staff a £100k knees-up
BANK of England bosses were accused of having “little respect” for taxpayers after blowing nearly £100,000 on a staff party.
The annual Governors’ Day for more than 2,500 employees and their families cost more than £58,000 for food and drink alone.
Activities included a charity bake-off, fun run, treasure hunt and performances from the Bank’s choir and band.
The figures for the summer party, which have just emerged, are likely to give the Bank’s controversial governor Mark Carney a new headache.
He is already a target of criticism from Brexiteers for downbeat assessments of the impact of Brexit, which have been labelled a continuation of Project Fear.
The Bank’s latest bleak analysis this week was branded Project Hysteria and leading pro-Brexit Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg called Mr Carney “a second-tier Canadian politician who failed to get on in Canadian politics and then got a job in the UK”.
The Harvard and Oxfordeducated economist had been Under fire: Governor Mark Carney
previously carpeted for racking up more than £50,000 in expenses between March and May this year.
The Bank of England’s annual fete in July at its south-west London sports ground cost a total of £95,674, excluding VAT.
Separately the bank revealed it spent nearly £4,700 on its annual Governors and Directors Christmas Drinks reception last December, including £682 on 70 bottles of wine at an average £9.70 each.
John O’Connell of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said yesterday: “Christmas is a time for giving, yet time and time again we see public officials taking money from those in need to reward themselves.
“Family incomes are squeezed by the highest tax burden in 49 years, yet so much of the money they give to the Government is wasted on bonuses, perks and luxuries for government bodies. This extravagance shows little respect for the hard-pressed taxpayers whose lives are directly impacted by the Bank’s decisions.”
The Bank, which is independent of the Government in maintaining financial stability, also regulates banks and prints currency.
A Bank of England statement said: “Governors’ Day is a longheld tradition that is open to all employees including their families, with the aim of recognising their hard work and dedication.
“The annual event is an important one for all Bank employees and the Bank strongly believes that this carefully budgeted event is worthwhile.”
It is not the first time its summer party has attracted criticism.
In 2016, weeks after the EU referendum campaign in which Mr Carney was accused of being central to then Chancellor George Osborne’s failed Project Fear warnings, the Bank held its annual summer knees-up as usual.
The 2016 party apparently cost slightly more than this year’s, with the bill put at just over £99,000.
Mr Carney, hired in 2013 by Mr Osborne, was due to step down next June but agreed to stay until January 2020 to help to =smooth Britain’s departure from the EU.