The Bank of England made nearly £4bn in profit from the pension market intervention that helped to bring down Liz Truss’s government.
Threadneedle Street is estimated to have netted a £3.8bn windfall after it officially wound up the emergency bond-buying programme it launched in the wake of September’s chaotic mini-Budget.
The central bank bought more than £19bn of long-term gilts as part of the scheme, saying it stepped in to prevent a shock in the gilt market from turning into a wider economic crisis.
£4 bunce on £19 total is a pretty good rate.
Not, exactly, a subsidy now, was it?
So QE can be reversed. Don’t tell Spud