The Bank of England’s chief economist, Huw Pill, provoked derision this week when he claimed that inflation means those in Britain need to accept that “we’re all worse off, and we all have to take our share”. Echoing comments made last year by the Bank’s governor, Andrew Bailey, on the need for pay “restraint”, Pill claimed the “pass-the-parcel game” of wage and price rises was “generating inflation”.
I disagree: they are both almost entirely wrong, and the clumsy messaging reflects the failure of conventional thinking and policy in tackling the cost of living crisis.
