Central Banks

Carney Sought Near-Zero Rates After Brexit, New Transcripts Show

Minutes from 2016 reveal policy divisions after UK referendum
Carney relented on push to avoid ‘messier’ split decision

Mark Carney arrives at 11 Downing Street in London in 2024. — Mark Carney arrives at 11 Downing Street in London in 2024.
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

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By Tom Rees and Irina Anghel

January 9, 2025 at 5:56 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Then-Bank of England Governor Mark Carney advocated lowering interest rates to near zero to counter the economic shock of Brexit before relenting to maintain consensus among policymakers, according to newly released transcripts.

The BOE minutes from 2016 — released on Thursday as part of a program to provide historical insight into policymakers’ thinking — showed the central bank governor pressing for the most robust response possible after Britons voted to leave the European Union. Members of the Monetary Policy Committee reached for pop-culture references from The Shawshank Redemption to the Harry Potter books as they tried to process the decision that June.