We call on the Government to update the Bank of England's monetary policy remit to require the MPC to distinguish between demand-pull and supply-push inflation, and permit base rate cuts even when headline inflation exceeds target, if the cause is primarily supply-side.

The Bank of England's current remit requires it to target a CPI inflation rate of 2%, with interest rate policy used as the primary tool to achieve this. This framework was designed for an era of predominantly stable, demand-driven inflation. It does not adequately account for inflation driven by supply-side shocks — such as energy price spikes, global supply chain disruption, or geopolitical events — which cannot be meaningfully resolved by raising the cost of borrowing.