Chamber rolls out Humber’s red carpet for Governor of Bank of England to talk business over breakfast

The Governor of the Bank of England (second right) pictured at the Chamber breakfast with (from left) the Director of the Chamber’s Acorn Fund, Craig Simpson, Chamber President Mike Whitehead and Chamber Chief Executive Dr Ian Kelly.

THE Hull & Humber Chamber of Commerce rolled out the proverbial red carpet for a breakfast meeting with the Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey today, (apr 8).

Mr Bailey was officially welcomed by Chamber President Mike Whitehead and an attentive audience of more than 100 businessmen and women from across the Humber region at the Mercure Hull Grange Park Hotel.

The President highlighted how pleased the Chamber was to be able to welcome the Governor to the region after a very difficult couple of years for businesses which have had to deal with all manner of challenges, from the Covid-19 pandemic, to rising energy prices and now the fall-out from the war in Ukraine.

He said: “We are all aware of the inflationary pressures, interest rate rises and how the war has changed policymakers’ views about supply chain and energy security issues.

“The Humber is the Energy Estuary and the growing renewables capital of the UK and will be at the centre of resolving those energy security issues for the nation”.

Against a backdrop of three interest rate rises in a year the Governor explained some of the difficulties of forecasting monetary policy in a complicated world which is currently trying to cope with a major war in Europe and the re-emergence of Covid in China on a large scale.

Questions from the floor included some from the Chair of the Chamber’s North Lincolnshire Area Council Paul Cooper who is an insolvency expert, and the Chair of the Chamber’s North East Lincolnshire Council Area Council Irene Keal, as well as numerous other guests.

Thanking the Governor for coming to Hull in a good-humoured exchange, Chamber Chief Executive Dr Ian Kelly, highlighted the Chamber’s Quarterly Economic Survey which feeds into the British Chambers National Survey, which in turn is fed up to the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, asking people locally to complete the survey and tell the Governor exactly how they see this part of the world’s economy and business environment.

Dr Kelly also referenced former Grimsby MP Austin Mitchell, who had worked with the Governor earlier in his career during the financial crisis to ensure Iceland’s fishing industry served Grimsby’s need for fish and in particular kept the UK’s national dish of fish and chips served up across the country.

Ian similarly noted how the Chamber had set up the Humber LEP when asked to do so by Secretary of State Greg Clark some 12 years ago and how it had helped to create the enterprise zones which are now home to Siemens’ blade factory in Hull and Orsted’s operations on Grimsby docks. A decade later we were now reaping the reward for those investments and he also highlighted the hopes for the Humber’s next steps on Freeport status and how Michael Gove’s ambitions for “Opportunities Humber” could yet shape the region’s green future at a faster pace.

In his vote of thanks, Ian asked the Governor to remind his friends in the “small provincial town” where his Bank is based called London that the Humber is now increasingly the capital of our rapidly growing green renewables industry in the UK and beyond.