BOE governor, Andrew Bailey, remarks to Sky News in a podcast

  • The prospects would have been very bad
  • It would have been very serious if BOE had not intervened during the "meltdown"
  • The government would have struggled to fund itself in the short-run

Bailey added that the financial dislocation that took place during March was much more severe than that back in 2008-09 - referring to the 'no bid' situation in gilts - with the BOE having then had to step in on 19 March here.

With regards to debt monetisation though, Bailey remarked that "at no point have we thought that our job was just to finance whatever debts the government issue"; reaffirming that the BOE's role and objective is to ensure economic stability.