London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Bank of England doubles down on inflation gamble to prevent greater damage ahead

Bank of England doubles down on inflation gamble to prevent greater damage ahead

Sky's Paul Kelso speaks to a business owner facing a massive, damaging increase to their gas bills as the governor of the Bank of England explains why it is inflicting more pain on millions of borrowers to help control a price problem mostly outside its control.

How does it feel running an energy intensive business in the age of soaring prices?

"It's like a train coming down the tracks and you know you can't avoid it," says Matthew Greene.

He's the managing director of Ercon Powder Coating, a second-generation family firm in Bilston in the West Midlands, one of hundreds of manufacturers that form the backbone of British industry.

Matthew took over the business from his father in 2016, since when he has had to steer it through Brexit, the pandemic and now an energy crisis that may be the hardest of all. His two sons work with him.

Matthew Greene, the boss of Ercon Powder Coating, fears its gas bills will rise six-fold


Powder-coating is the process of applying a smooth, dry finish to metal surfaces, used for everything from park railings and shelving units to hi-fi appliances and designer chair legs.

It's cleaner, quicker and smoother than paint but it is an energy intensive business, requiring large gas-fired convection ovens to bake on the powder at temperatures north of 200C, and the locomotive Matthew can see in the distance is his gas bill.

"You're talking about going from £50,000 or £60,000 to up to £300,000, so where does that come from? We can make small improvements here and there, save a thousand pounds a month here and there, but such a huge rise does threaten the viability of the business.

"We have 25 people employed in the powder coating division, we have been doing this since 1983 and we have had highs and lows with various recessions, but this is something different, we've never experienced anything like this when such a catastrophic cost is going to hit the company.

"The gas is going to cost more than employing people, more than renting the building, more than employing, it's going to have a huge impact."

The wholesale gas price increase Matthew faces isn't just fuelling his ovens.

The Bank of England says it's driving inflation to a peak of 13.3% in October, a date linked to the increase in the domestic price cap to an estimated £3,500, and will keep inflation above 10% until this time next year, prompting the largest fall in living standards since the 1960s.


Given a 15-month recession looms and this is largely imported inflation, driven by global demand and the war in Ukraine and beyond the control of the Bank, why has it decided to increase interest rates by the largest amount since 1995, a move that could add £650 to average tracker mortgage repayments?

Governor Andrew Bailey told me they're acting now to prevent the impact of energy inflation being baked into domestic prices when prices fall.

"The reason we're doing it is because if we don't get inflation under control, if we don't bring it down from where I'm afraid it's got to go because of this huge energy shock that we're having, then the damage and the distress will be even greater," he said.

"I recognise how difficult this will be and how significant this will be for the cost of living, but if we don't address this now the consequences will be worse and the result will be even higher interest rates in future."

Mr Bailey says there is already evidence of domestic inflation taking root in Britain's tight labour market, where there are more vacancies than job-seekers, forcing wages up by a predicted 6% this year.

He repeated his warning that inflation-chasing pay settlements risks embedding inflation, a message unlikely to find supporters among public and private sector workers facing below-inflation settlements.

Speaking in the midst of the Conservative leadership race, he resisted all invitations to comment on the candidates' extravagant tax-cutting promises, or suggestions from Liz Truss that the Bank's mandate should be changed.

He did however defend its judgement today, and its role in future.

"We think this is undoubtedly the right thing to do, but we will be back in six weeks' time, for the next monetary policy meeting, and we'll go through all the evidence again.

"What I would emphasise is that independence is an absolutely key part of the economic system of this country, and in other countries. It's an important part and never more than now, this is the biggest test of our system in the quarter of a century this has existed for."

The next few months will test that faith. Matthew Green, thousands of business owners like him, and the rest of us, will hope Mr Bailey and his colleagues have got it right.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
×