Who Makes UK Economic Policy?
Economic policy in the UK Is made by a number of bodies both at home and abroad. There are some actors who directly make economic policy- for example the chancellor, and there are thhose who just influence the making of economic policy- for example pressure groups. Some of these actors are domestic actors and some are pannational. The different bodies responsible for economic policy making have different degrees of accoutnability. Traditionally the principle actor in making economic policy would be the chancellor and the treasury however, the responsibilty have been shared over many bodies as power has been ceded to other groups.
The Chanellor does remain the key figure in economic policy making. It has been suggested that Gordon Brown has been the most powerful chancellor yet. This is because Tony Blair has ceded a lot of power traditionally of the PM to the chancellor and created a dual monarchy. However, Gordon Brown has also ceded his own power elsewhere. For example he gave control of interest rates over to the Monetary Policy Commity in the Bank of England. This means he no longer has the power to shape economic policy in order to benefit politcs by creating artificail booms before elections for example. However, Brown does still retain a lot of power over economic policy. For example he can still tamper with the tax and credit systems. The treasury has become a superministry in the sense that it can control so much of economics. However, it has also lost a lot of power to the MPC and to the city and Globalisation limits its room for manouvre. For example, if the chancellor chose to increase coorporation tax this would result in investment leaving the country. The Chancellors key advisors also play a larrge part in shaping economic policy- for example Ed Balls. Margaret Thatcher actually listend to her advisor Sir Alan Waters more than some in her treasury.
