Economy & Finance
156mentions · last 12 months↓
View full analysis →The Commons Treasury Committee scrutinises the government's financial and economic policies, the work of the Bank of England, the Financial Conduct Authority, and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs. As a select committee, it examines legislation, takes oral evidence from ministers and external witnesses, and publishes reports shaping fiscal and monetary policy debate. The committee operates across the full economic landscape, from tax and spending decisions to banking regulation and financial services. Recent inquiries have centred on the Bank of England's monetary policy stance and its monetary policy reports, with particular scrutiny of inflation management and economic forecasting. The committee assessed the Office for Budget Responsibility at 15 years of operation through both expert panels and written evidence, evaluating its track record on fiscal forecasting. Additional investigations have covered financial inclusion strategy, the Financial Conduct Authority's approach to financial crime and crypto regulation, the Financial Ombudsman Service's governance and independence, and the government's Spring Statement 2026.
47 sessions published in the last 12 months · busiest week: w/c 13 Jul (3 sessions)
Click any cell in the heatmap to see the sessions held that day and the insights extracted from them.
944 insights
15 Jul 2026
The Treasury Committee scrutinised the FCA’s handling of the motor finance redress scheme, its response to claims-management misconduct, and the need for faster, system-wide regulation of harms increasingly originating outside regulated firms. The witnesses defended the FCA scheme as the quickest and fairest route for consumers, but also pressed Parliament and Government to close legal gaps on high-volume claims, money laundering and referral mechanisms in the redress Bill. A major theme was the FCA’s call for clearer Government risk appetite and faster legislative responses to support innovation in payments, AI and digital wallets while keeping market integrity, fraud control and consumer protection in balance.
15 Jul 2026
The Treasury Committee scrutinised Professor Jonathan Haskel’s nomination as Chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility, focusing on how he would preserve the OBR’s independence, handle political/media pressure, and manage relations with Treasury, Parliament and other institutions. Haskel backed the OBR’s current breadth of duties but warned against expanding them without resources, supported the existing 0.1% scoring threshold and five-year horizon, and said he would welcome reasoned disagreement from Treasury or others. He also stressed cyber-security, better communication of forecasts, stronger use of AI with tighter safeguards, and a more granular approach to productivity, R&D and labour-market modelling.
14 Jul 2026
The Committee scrutinised the Bank of England’s view that financial stability risks have risen, especially from frontier AI/cyber risk, geopolitical shocks, leverage in markets, and the fragility of the gilt repo market. Andrew Bailey argued the UK banking system remains resilient, with strong capital and household/corporate balance sheets, but warned that low UK growth, fiscal pressures and structural headwinds matter for stability. The Bank also defended easing parts of the banking capital/leverage framework while insisting that market leverage needs separate tools. A substantial part of the hearing examined the Bank’s proposals on stablecoins and crypto, with the Governor saying the UK’s regime is ahead of the US in key respects and that stablecoins are distinct from crypto because they must meet the test of money. The Bank also said it will update on gilt repo reforms in its Q4 Financial Stability Report and emphasised that the sector-wide work on private credit, SWES and AI risks is expanding.
08 Jul 2026
The Committee scrutinised whether the Defence Investment Plan (DIP) was fully funded, how the Government plans to reach 2.7% of GDP by 2029-30 and 3% in the next Parliament, and whether the Treasury and MoD were aligned after John Healey’s resignation. Ministers defended the DIP as a broader, deliberately reprioritised settlement with more readiness and autonomy, but conceded it was negotiated through trade-offs, with some funding identified later at a fiscal event. The session also examined procurement reform, annual parliamentary updates, asset sales, efficiencies, contingency against inflation, defence finance, debanking, and the role of multilateral financing institutions and buy-British policy in supporting growth and sovereignty.
30 Jun 2026
The Committee examined how high-street tax and duty non-compliance is enabled by phoenixing, business-rates avoidance, weak sanctions, and poor information-sharing between HMRC, local authorities and enforcement bodies. Witnesses argued that landlords are often incentivised to take short-term or dubious occupiers to avoid empty-property rates, while HMRC and trading standards lack the resources, data and enforcement powers to respond consistently. Hazel Cheeseman supported tobacco and vaping tax changes as public-health measures and said the Tobacco and Vapes Act plus the coming vape excise tax should help control illicit products, but that organised crime and high-street enforcement gaps require wider action. Paul Monaghan called for tougher sanctions, more personal liability and stronger Companies House controls; Alistair Townsend recommended broader anti-avoidance rules and better information sharing for councils.
24 Jun 2026
Witnesses scrutinised the Government’s consumer-finance agenda across the Financial Services and Markets Bill, Consumer Credit Act reform, ISA changes, mortgage risk-taking, insurance pricing, buy now pay later regulation and the FCA’s strategy. The witnesses broadly supported reform of outdated consumer-credit rules and targeted support, but strongly criticised the Bill’s Financial Ombudsman Service reforms, especially the fair-and-reasonable test, the 10-year time bar and reduced consumer redress. They also argued the Treasury is pushing regulators to prioritise growth and risk-taking, which they said is weakening consumer protection, enforcement and confidence.