Date: 2024-10-19 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00019114
Activism
Positive Money
Exposed: hypocrisy at the heart of Bank of England bailouts
Over the past 40 years plus the modern economy has become very productive and profitable, but at the expense of society and the environment which have not been part of the calculus. Shame!
Peter Burgess
Hannah, Positive Money info@positivemoney.org.uk via email.actionnetwork.org
8:46 AM (1 hour ago) to me
We already knew the Bank of England was bailing out big polluters and bad bosses Peter - but our new report released today exposes all the alarming details. [1]
Of the 63 companies who’ve taken almost £19 billion in public money, 39% have cut more than 34,000 jobs and 56% of the money’s gone to airlines, car makers, and oil and gas companies. To capture all the carbon these companies emit in just one year alone, we’d need to plant more than 6.9 billion trees - that’s an area three times the size of the UK!
The Prime Minister’s made countless promises to ‘build back better’ but that’ll be impossible if the Bank keeps handing out loans without forcing companies to do better. [2]
A new poll in today’s papers shows the majority of people think corporations should only be given public money if it comes with environmental and social conditions attached. [3]
To turn Boris’s words into action, we need to turn this public anger into public pressure. Peter, please will you sign the petition now to pile on the pressure?
Today we published ‘Where are the conditions for the billion £ bailouts?’ It deep dives into the Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF), a Bank of England scheme designed to give cheap loans to Britain’s biggest businesses. And it doesn’t make for very cheery reading.
As unemployment soars, poverty intensifies, and the threat of climate breakdown looms large, we can’t afford to hand out billions in public money without asking for anything in return. This time around, public bailouts must prioritise the wellbeing of people.
Only 6% of people want to return to our pre-covid economy. [4] And we know that reforming the dodgy CCFF scheme is possible, Peter. We’ve already succeeded in making it more transparent. [5] Now we need to go one step further and force the Bank to attach conditions to their billions.
Help us hit 10,000 signatures and add your name to the petition today. It’ll take you less than 20 seconds.
SIGN THE PETITION Thanks for all that you do,
Hannah, Rachel and the rest of the Positive Money team
[1] New report: Where are the conditions for the Bank of England's broken bailout scheme?:
https://positivemoney.org/2020/07/new-report-where-are-the-conditions-for-the-bank-of-englands-broken-bailout-scheme/
[2] Twitter: Prime Minister Boris Johnson announces new date for UN climate summit: https://twitter.com/COP26/status/1266011322086567942
[3] City AM: Two thirds of Brits think Coronavirus bailouts should have strings attached:
https://www.cityam.com/two-thirds-of-brits-think-coronavirus-bailouts-should-have-strings-attached/
[4] The Guardian: Just 6% of UK public ‘want to return to pre-pandemic economy’:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/28/just-6-of-uk-public-want-a-return-to-pre-pandemic-economy
[5] Positive Money: Bank of England comes clean on corporate bailouts following Positive Money campaign:
https://positivemoney.org/2020/05/press-release-govt-and-boe-comes-clean-on-corporate-bailouts/
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