Shadow North East Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) Meeting April 2026

By Donna James, Research Director at Populus Select

The North East Shadow Monetary Policy Committee, comprising business leaders in the NE, met a few days before the Bank of England’s MPC to discuss the current economic situation and to vote on the decision they think the BoE should take regarding the interest rate.

Populus Select’s Research Director, a member of the shadow MPC, voted to stick. This turned out to be the unanimous view of the committee.

Donna’s vote was based on concerns about inflationary pressures, largely due to the Iran war, but offset by concerns about deflationary indicators from a lacklustre economy with further problems anticipated from the impact of AI on the labour market and global economic turbulence.

Alongside concerns about the impact of continued wars in the Middle East and Ukraine on oil and fertiliser prices, the domestic impact of labour market reforms on the UK were also of concern to committee members.

For a summary and to see the whole discussion see below.

https://lnkd.in/eNadTE9F