- Mark Carney, BoE Governor
The Governor of the Bank of England strongly defended his warning last week that a vote to leave the European Union in June could push Britain into recession. Mark Carney faced calls for his resignation, with Conservative MPs accusing him of interfering into politics, after the bank's Monetary Policy Committee warned of slower growth and higher inflation if Britons vote for a ‘Brexit' in the key referendum on June 23. The BoE was criticised for providing a one-sided analysis. However, Carney insisted he was not entering into the wider referendum debate but that the central bank had a duty to explain its thinking and potential risks to the economy. Carney said the BoE's job of ensuring financial stability and steering inflation back to its 2% target required the bank to be honest about short-term economic risks, such as a vote to leave the EU, that could hamper reaching these goals. Prime Minister David Cameron and the leaders of Britain's other main political parties, as well as international bodies such as the IMF, all support Britain staying in the EU.
Meanwhile, Britain's output in the construction sector dived 3.6% on a month-on-month basis in March, more than expected and further down from the fall of 0.9% a month before, according to the Office for National Statistics.
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