Mervyn King’s speech to the TUC this week reiterated his strong support for the fiscal retrenchment plan announced by the coalition government in the UK. Some people have said that it is not the role of the central bank Governor to comment on fiscal policy, which they argue should be confined to the political arena. However, the Fed Chairman and the President of the ECB frequently comment on government debt and budget deficits, so it is hard to see why Mr King should be criticised for expressing his opinion. A much more important question is what his speech tells us about the likely course of fiscal policy and its relationship with monetary policy. Read more