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78-680: In many ways, 1982 represented the nadir of Britain's railways. That year saw the lowest number of passenger journeys of the second half of the 20th century, the lowest level of passenger-miles, and the lowest (real) level of passenger revenue since 1968. Although these figures were partly the result of the 1982 strike (over rostering arrangements), rail passenger numbers had been in steady decline since 1957. (Only 1978–1980 saw consecutive years of passenger growth). In 1982 terms, revenues had decreased steadily from £2,300 million in 1970 to £1,800 million in 1982, while costs had risen from £2,500 million to £2,700 million. Consequently, BR's deficit had increased by

156-617: A PPS ". He then trained as a teacher at Moray House College in Edinburgh and taught at Bo'ness Academy for three years, and was Director of Studies on the ship school Dunera from 1961 to 1962. In 1969 Dalyell became a columnist for New Scientist magazine, contributing Westminster Scene (later Westminster Diary ) until his retirement in 2005. This provided "a conduit for researchers to speak to Parliament and vice versa ", covering many subjects of public concern including industrial diseases, data protection, chemical weapons and

234-523: A "Bank of England" with a "fund for perpetual Interest" (not yet bonds or bills) that was passed by Parliament, supported by Charles Montagu, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Michael Godfrey, another leading City merchant. The public were invited to invest subscriptions totalling £1.2 million forming the initial capital stock onward loaned to the Government in return for a Royal Charter. At the same time

312-487: A "high investment" option. This looked at the effects of new rolling stock on maintenance costs, and concluded that the return would be far too small. Otherwise, the report did not seriously examine the effects of improving rail services. The report, along with a minority report by Alfred Goldstein, a member of Serpell's committee, was presented to the Secretary of State for Transport on 20 December 1982, but it would be

390-545: A "second Beeching ". None of its options (it made no recommendations) were taken up by the government, and it did not result in any network changes. In the words of the railway historian Julian Holland, the report was 'quietly forgotten by the Conservative government.' However, for a few years after the report, British Rail did 'quietly pursue the potential for bus substitution on selected routes' and some rationalisation of infrastructure continued. For some years afterwards,

468-477: A Member of Parliament. He had been Scotland's longest-serving MP since the resignation of Bruce Millan in 1988. He was succeeded as Father of the House by Alan Williams . In 2009, The Daily Telegraph reported that Dalyell had submitted an expenses claim for £18,000 for three bookcases just two months before his retirement from the House of Commons. Dalyell claimed that this was a legitimate expense to which he

546-562: A US attack without unambiguous UN authorisation, he should be branded as a war criminal and sent to The Hague ". On 7 March 2003, Dalyell was elected as Rector of the University of Edinburgh . After a three-year term, he was succeeded in 2006 by Mark Ballard . It was announced on 13 January 2004 that Dalyell would not seek re-election as an MP at the next general election, and he left the House of Commons in April 2005 after 43 years as

624-582: A definition of "value for money" and sets out the responsibilities of an Accounting Officer within central government: Tam Dalyell Sir Thomas Dalyell, 11th Baronet FRSGS ( / d i ˈ ɛ l / dee- EL ; 9 August 1932 – 26 January 2017), known as Tam Dalyell , was a Scottish Labour Party politician who was a member of the House of Commons from 1962 to 2005. He represented West Lothian from 1962 to 1983, then Linlithgow from 1983 to 2005. He formulated what came to be known as

702-674: A factor of 4.5. Serpell was chosen to chair the review into railway finances. His lengthy experience of the civil service included serving as Under-Secretary at the Treasury from 1954 to 1960, then service in the Ministry of Transport . After serving in other departments, he became Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Transport in 1968 and was thus involved in implementing some of the Beeching cuts . In 1970 he became Permanent Secretary to

780-629: A further month before it was published. However, some aspects of it had already been leaked to the press and had attracted criticism prior to publication. As railway historian David Spaven later wrote, the reaction from the public, press and politicians to the report was 'overwhelmingly adverse'. An editorial in The Guardian in January 1983 described it as 'a really rotten report', while The Glasgow Herald reported that its publication 'attracted almost universal condemnation', causing David Howell ,

858-565: A long period of price stability. Money flow is based on confidence and is therefore vulnerable to panic shocks. A rescue operation, later termed the BoE's Lifeboat, in the form of syndicated guarantees by leading banks to fund for banks in crisis was established by the Governor of the Bank of England with over £17 million promised. The Bank therefore had to fully accept responsibility for the stability of

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936-406: A sensible one'. Tam Dalyell later claimed that Serpell also regretted that he was asked to look at the issue of railway services solely in terms of economic impact, as this did not allow him to express his opinion that 'railway use was of service to the environment'. Nevertheless, his name became 'synonymous with cuts and closures'. The report was portrayed by some rail supporters (inaccurately) as

1014-490: A similar policy innovation, the Office of Budget Responsibility was created to be an authority on macro-economic forecasting by and for Government departments. Central Authorities such as Treasury or Government Finance departments and The Central Banks had to assume responsibility for financial stability. The most glaring example of failure being Germany's currency collapse and Hyper-inflation 1921–23. Monetary stability alone

1092-579: Is however not enough of a guiding principle. As with the French a century before, the First World War saw the link with gold broken and the issue of low denomination notes returned once again. A vain attempt was made in 1925 to return to the discipline of the gold standard and remains handled by the Bank. The gold and foreign exchange reserves passed to the Treasury in 1931. Also in 1931, UK abandoned

1170-625: The Chagossians in their campaign to return to Diego Garcia after being expelled in 1968. When invited by a television journalist to rank Tony Blair among the eight Prime Ministers he had observed as a parliamentarian , he cited Blair's policies in Kosovo and Iraq as reasons for placing his party leader at the bottom of the list. He was also a strong presence in Parliament concerning Libya and led no fewer than 17 adjournment debates on

1248-765: The Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation in 1965, he contested almost every British military intervention, arguing against Britain's involvement in the Aden Emergency , the Falklands War (especially the sinking of the General Belgrano ), the Gulf War , the Kosovo War and the 2003 invasion of Iraq . "I will resist a war with every sinew in my body", he said. Dalyell was also a supporter of

1326-587: The Lockerbie bombing , in which he repeatedly demanded answers by the Government to the reports of Hans Köchler , United Nations observer at the Lockerbie trial. In February 2003, he became the first Father of the House to be ordered to leave the chamber, after asking questions about the government's "dossier" on weapons in Iraq. Following his outspoken opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq and criticism of

1404-662: The Lockerbie bombing trial in Scotland; the US Government had indictments against Coleman, accusing him of passport fraud and perjury. Allan Stewart , a former Scottish Office minister and Conservative MP for Eastwood , also said that Coleman should be granted immunity so he could testify in Scotland. The Lord Advocate rejected Dalyell's plea, saying that the Home Office and the English courts had jurisdiction over

1482-734: The Prime Minister . Until 1827, the First Lord of the Treasury, when a commoner, also held the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer , while if the First Lord was a peer, the Second Lord usually served as Chancellor. Since 1827, however, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has always been Second Lord of the Treasury. If important lessons were learnt that the National Debt (and public finances) require prudent management, when

1560-558: The Privileges Committee for a leak about the biological weapons research establishment, Porton Down , to the newspapers (though he said that he thought the draft minutes of the Select Committee on Science and Technology were in the public domain ). When Labour were defeated in 1970 , his chances of senior office were effectively over. He was opposed to Scottish devolution and was the first to come up with

1638-810: The Royal Scots Greys from 1950 to 1952, as an ordinary trooper , after failing his officer training. He then went to King's College, Cambridge , to study mathematics, but switched to history. He became chairman of the Cambridge University Conservative Association and vice-president of the Cambridge Union Society . Cambridge economist Joan Robinson encouraged him to stay for a year after completing his history degree to take an additional degree in economics, which he did and later described as "the hardest work I ever did, much harder than being

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1716-478: The Scottish National Party in a hard-fought by-election for West Lothian . From 1983 onwards, he represented Linlithgow (when the new town of Livingston formed its own constituency) and easily retained the seat. He became Father of the House after the 2001 general election , when Former Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath retired from the House of Commons . He was a nominated Member of

1794-727: The Whole of Government Accounts annual financial statements are produced. The origins of the Treasury of England have been traced by some to an individual known as Henry the Treasurer, a servant to King William the Conqueror . This claim is based on an entry in the Domesday Book showing the individual Henry "the treasurer" as a landowner in Winchester, where the royal treasure was stored. The UK Treasury traces its origins to

1872-552: The " West Lothian question ", although it was actually named by Conservative MP Enoch Powell . He continued to argue his own causes: in 1978–79, he voted against his own government over 100 times, despite a three-line whip . In the 1990s, Dalyell asked the Lord Advocate , Lord Rodger of Earlsferry , to grant diplomatic immunity to Lester Coleman , a co-author of Trail of the Octopus , so that he could give evidence in

1950-748: The " West Lothian question ", on whether non-English MPs should be able to vote upon English-only matters after political devolution . He was also known for his anti-war, anti-imperialist views, opposing the Falklands War , the Gulf War , the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War . Dalyell was born in Edinburgh , and raised in the family home of his mother Eleanor Dalyell , the Binns , near Linlithgow , West Lothian; his father Gordon Loch CIE (1887–1953)

2028-471: The 126 years between 1785 and 1911. The UK's 1844 Bank Act even had to be suspended in 1847, 1857 and in 1866 to prevent The Bank of England's own collapse. By the time of the 2007–08 Global Financial Crisis (GFC) The UK Treasury with Bank of England staff were especially innovative in providing off-budget solutions to bank bale-outs by offering The Asset protection Scheme, whereby banks could sell large percentages of their loan-books, heavily risk- discounted, to

2106-449: The 1980s) and a system for fiscal transfers between rich and poor regions (much simplified and abolished in much of its refinements), through high inflation years the 1970s and 1980s (triggered by Middle-East oil wars) led to the rise the national debt (in nominal terms) from about 64% GDP ratio down to £36 billions in 1972 or 49% GDP ratio, then to £197 billion in 1987 or 39% ratio, followed by £419bn or 41% ratio by 1998. Although figures for

2184-506: The Central Bank in exchange for Treasury Bills, kept on deposit as part of the banks' regulatory capital. They therefore did not have to finding funding gap finance in the now very expensive short term Money Markets. When US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulsen learnt of Alistair Darling 's approach, only then did he realise he had had no need to apply to Congress for TARP or closedown Lehman Brothers ! The Bank's relationship with

2262-520: The Chancellor's and therefore The Treasury's behalf. However, a revival of interest in Chicago and Austrian Schools of Monetarism, calling for depoliticised central base-rate policy settings, and claiming much would have been better had that been available during the high inflation 1970s. The re-evaluation of monetary policy roles began in the 1980s but did not result until 1997 in granting The Central Bank sole responsibility for setting interest rates and at

2340-650: The Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt (CRND) were integrated with the DMO. The facility lends to local authorities for capital purposes and the CRND's principal function is to manage the investment portfolios of certain public funds. The PWLB lending facility and CRND continue to carry out their long-standing statutory functions within the DMO. A brief explanation of two terms: "Exchequer" derives from

2418-478: The Conservative Government was accused by its opponents of implementing the report via stealth. Passenger numbers picked up through the mid and late 1980s and continued to grow in the 21st century. The report, and the hostile reaction to it, was described in 2008 as a 'turning point in the fortunes of the national rail network'. The report also proved to be costly for Howell, who was dropped from

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2496-457: The Duke of Albemarle, Lord Ashley, (Sir) W. Coventry, (Sir) J. Duncomb, and (Sir) T. Clifford. From the middle of the 17th century the need for a national bank became pressing. England and, in particular, London was greatly changing due to fast expansion of The Empire's trade, not least N.America, but also entrepot trade that grew to over one third of trade and with Continental Europe, however, what

2574-625: The European Parliament from 1975 to 1979, and a member of the Labour National Executive from 1986 to 1987 representing the Campaign group . Dalyell's independent stance in Parliament ensured his isolation from significant committees and jobs. His early career was promising and he became Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Richard Crossman . He annoyed a number of ministers and was heavily censured by

2652-743: The Exchequer , or more informally the Treasury , is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom . It is responsible for developing and executing the government's public finance policy and economic policy . The Treasury maintains the Online System for Central Accounting and Reporting, the replacement for the Combined Online Information System , which itemises departmental spending under thousands of category headings, and from which

2730-521: The Exchequer was abolished in 1833, HM Treasury became the ministerial department under the Chancellor of the Exchequer. When the Treasury was under commission, junior Lords were each paid £1,600 a year. It is insensible to consider the Treasury's history without the Bank of England, set up in the 17th century. The argument for England's bank grew after the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688 when William of Orange and Queen Mary ascended to England's throne. London-based Scottish entrepreneur, William Paterson proposed

2808-800: The Gold Standard for domestic currency redemption. Domestic note issue was no longer backed by gold. It may be remarked, quite fairly, that in the last half century, monetary systems management, financial planning and regulatory oversight, effectively everything but a political-economy policy direction strategy, has come to be applied comprehensively to financial services, all at a time when industrial policy and strategic oversight to all industries making tradable goods, has been discarded. Government can get involved in industrial strategy and public and some private services in response to strikes, closures, or FDI investment flows. Crises of systemic collapses after excessive confidence inevitably continued through

2886-487: The Government or by commerce – rendered itself liable to its depositors wanting all their money returned at once. The Bank therefore, needed to retain a prudent reserve of gold to ensure liabilities could be met on demand. This can be seen as the beginning of a policy of monetary stability. The 1844 bank Charter Act, After the French Wars, sterling's exchange rate was high so that the trade balance with Continental Europe

2964-593: The Government, Downing Street suggested that he might face withdrawal of the Labour whip . In May, the American magazine Vanity Fair reported Dalyell indirectly as having said that Prime Minister Tony Blair was unduly influenced by a "cabal of Jewish advisers". He specifically named Lord Levy , who was Blair's official representative in the Middle East, and Labour politicians Peter Mandelson (whose father

3042-1039: The Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland had been united by the Acts of Union 1800 , the exchequers of the two kingdoms were not consolidated until 1817 under the Consolidated Fund Act 1816 ( 56 Geo. 3 . c. 98). For the holders of the Irish office before this date, see Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland . As of 5 July 2024, the Treasury Ministers are as follows, with cabinet ministers in bold: National Infrastructure Strategy, National Infrastructure Commission; Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA, joint with Cabinet Office); Public – Private Partnerships; (PPPs) and Private Finance Initiatives (PFI/PFI2); parliamentary deputy on public spending issues. Parliamentary deputy on economy issues. Some of

3120-653: The Lords of the Treasury and were given a number based on their seniority. In 1720 the South Sea bubble burst and thousands of investors were affected; such was the outrage that the Chancellor of the Exchequer was sent to the Tower of London. Eventually the First Lord of the Treasury came, however, to be seen as the natural head of government, and from Robert Walpole on, the holder of the office became known, unofficially, as

3198-530: The National Debt was born, paper money came into existence. From the start, complementing the Treasury's policy-setting and oversight role, the Bank became the Government's banker; managing the Government's Treasury bank accounts, providing and arranging loans, maintaining cash-flow as required. It is also a commercial bank, dealing in bills and bonds (its own are called Gilts) sold to fund government borrowing, sometimes The Great Trading Franchises such as East India or Royal Africa and South Sea Companies. Involvement

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3276-641: The Secretary of State for Transport, to immediately acknowledge that the Thatcher Government was unlikely to accept any of the 'more extreme options' it outlined. Meanwhile, leader of the opposition Michael Foot called for the report to 'be "strangled" as soon as possible' and the leader of the National Union of Railwaymen also opposed the report which he described as 'a disaster'. Backbench Conservative MPs were reportedly worried about

3354-558: The Stuarts failed to enforce limits on inflation, war, corruption and extravagant tendencies and were forced into debt again. In 1667, King Charles II was responsible for appointing George Downing , the builder of Downing Street , to radically reform the Treasury and the collection of taxes. The Treasury was first put in commission (placed under the control of several people instead of only one) in May or June 1660. The first commissioners were

3432-528: The Treasury are sinecure positions which allow the whips to be paid ministerial salaries. This has led to the Government front bench in the Commons being known as the Treasury Bench. However, since the whips no longer have any effective ministerial roles in the Treasury, they are usually not listed as Treasury ministers. The position of Permanent Secretary to the Treasury is generally regarded as

3510-558: The Treasury changed several times, and continues no less intimate than that between US Treasury and The Federal Reserve. The funds which the Bank deploys, including note sat issue, specie in circulation, securities, Gold and foreign exchange reserves. Nationalisation in 1946, after WWII, made little immediate practical difference to the Bank. It remained the Treasury's partner, adviser, agent and debt manager. During War years and after it, and or they together, determined and administered exchange controls and various borrowing restrictions, often on

3588-819: The Treasury of the Kingdom of England , founded by 1126, in the reign of King Henry I . The Treasury emerged from the Royal Household . It was where the king kept his treasures, such as in The King's Chamber. The head of the Treasury was called the Lord Treasurer . Starting in Tudor times, the Lord Treasurer became one of the chief officers of state, and competed with the Lord Chancellor for

3666-429: The USA's Marshall Plan and other plans and focus on growing and trading out of debt while also de-colonising and honouring intra-Empire debt such as owed to India. The 1950s and early 1960s saw an increase in authority delegated to departments to spend within predetermined totals. with awareness of the net costs after tax generated and recovered (a practise stopped after 1979) and national industrial planning (abolished in

3744-467: The amount of money involved. The stick was cut in two and one half given to the Sheriff as receipt for the money. They were in use until 1834 when a fire destroyed the Palace of Westminster. By 1584, the deficit had been turned into a surplus equivalent to one year's revenue. Monarchs tended to bypass the Exchequer because of its ineffectiveness until it was reformed by Lord Treasurer Winchester and his successor, Lord Burghley, under Elizabeth I. In contrast,

3822-568: The banking system as a whole. This is now generally accepted duty by all central banks, each of whom issue annual Solvency and Financial Condition Reports of their national banking sectors. The threat of World War One pushed Government finance and the banking system into a short and medium term, then a longer run ongoing embarrassment of unprecedented high national debt (measured as a ratio to national income) overseen by both The Treasury and The Bank together. This crisis arguably pre-dates major world wars, and began by when half of world trade by value

3900-638: The cabinet by Margaret Thatcher later in the year as a result of the fallout. HM Treasury King Charles III [REDACTED] William, Prince of Wales [REDACTED] Charles III ( King-in-Council ) [REDACTED] Starmer ministry ( L ) Keir Starmer ( L ) Angela Rayner ( L ) ( King-in-Parliament ) [REDACTED] Charles III [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The Lord Reed The Lord Hodge Andrew Bailey Monetary Policy Committee His Majesty's Treasury ( HM Treasury ), occasionally referred to as

3978-453: The chequered abacus table used from about 1110 for summing income and expenditure. Exchequers were held twice yearly when the Chief Justice, Lord Chancellor, Treasurer and others sat round the chequer board, to audit and agree accounts of each local sheriff who collected taxes and duties and spent money on behalf of the crown. The word "budget" derives from the term "bougette"- a wallet in which either documents or money could be kept. Although

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4056-434: The demand of the US government's extradition demand regarding Coleman, and that the Crown Office and the Scottish Office had no authority over the case. Dalyell later said, "I had contact with Les Coleman 10 years ago. In my opinion, though he has a chequered history, I take him seriously." Dalyell was vocal in his disapproval of actions he deemed imperialistic . Beginning with his opposition to Britain becoming involved in

4134-425: The environment. Having been educated by left-wing economists at Cambridge , Dalyell said that he became a socialist because of the level of unemployment in Scotland. He joined the Labour Party in 1956, following the Suez Crisis . After being unsuccessful as a parliamentary candidate for Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles in 1959, he became a Member of Parliament in June 1962, when he defeated William Wolfe of

4212-553: The existence of an international network of mutually-trusting Governments' Departments of Finance, Treasuries and or Central Banks that in turn accredit and guarantee commercial banks. During the 18th and early 19th centuries great demands were placed on Treasury and the Bank for funding-gap finance; the National Debt grew from £12 million in 1700 to £850 million by 1815, the year of Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. However, in creating credit-issuing notes not fully backed by cash (gold) in hand, but were partly supported by credit given to

4290-403: The first choice as a review chair', with Liberal leader David Steel being considered before him. For reference, in 1982, journeys totalling 18,300 million passenger-miles were made; the network comprised 10,370 route miles; and BR's passenger deficit was £933 million. The various options for the network considered in Part 2 were as follows: The report also briefly considered an Option H –

4368-442: The first move towards nationalisation, the 1844 Bank Charter Act was also the key move towards the monopoly of banknote issue. The crucial clause of the Act was a monetary one; it provided that, beyond the Bank's capital of £14 million, its notes were to be backed by gold or bullion. This, together with a fixed price for standard gold, laid the foundation for the gold standard, which during the 19th century, spread world-wide and created

4446-411: The government whips are also associated in name with the Treasury: the Chief Whip is nominally Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury and traditionally had an office in 12 Downing Street . Some of the other whips are nominally Lords Commissioners of the Treasury , though they are all members of the House of Commons . Being a whip is a party, rather than a government, position; the appointments to

4524-442: The majority of the medieval period the office of the Treasury was within the Exchequer (responsible for managing the royal revenue in addition to collecting and issuing money). As is often the case, wars are expensive and in 1433 war with France led to a deficit of £30,000 – the equivalent of over £100 billion today. Money that the Treasury received was recorded by using tallies. These were sticks with notches marked on them according to

4602-474: The management of the post-war economy. The long slump of the 1930s Great Recession necessitated the restructuring of the economy, first by Command Economy necessitated by World War, then following World War II when the National Debt stood at £21 billions by 1945, or 219% ratio to GDP, emphasis on peacetime planning to avoid the slump after WWI when agricultural market prices collapsed. With better international financial relations following 1944 Bretton Woods and

4680-402: The meteoric rise of the banking and financial markets, with the emerging stock market revolving around government funds. The ability to raise money by means of creating debt through the issue of bills and bonds heralded the beginning of the National Debt. Improved controls over public spending ensured that creditors were more willing to lend money to the government. By the 1730s an early version of

4758-420: The national debt are rising after inflation they fell as GDP % ratios from a peak of about 250% of GDP at the end of World War II to 1/6 that by century end. The decision in 1997 to transfer monetary policy setting responsibility to the Bank of England, alongside maintaining responsibility for financial system stability while relegating-out operational banking risk management, oversight and rule-enforcement, to

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4836-408: The new Department of the Environment , which included transport in its remit. In 1974, two years after retiring from the civil service, he joined the British Railways Board . Writing in 2008, after Serpell's death, the former Labour MP Tam Dalyell would note that the experience made Serpell a 'natural' choice to head the review. However, his obituary in The Guardian noted that Serpell 'was not

4914-455: The new Financial Services Authority while the Treasury retained control of fiscal policy led to the creation of the United Kingdom Debt Management Office (DMO) as an executive agency of the Treasury. Since April 1998, gilts have been issued by the DMO. Other than gilts (and Treasury bills, see below) the National Debt also includes the liabilities of National Savings & Investments and other public sector debt and foreign currency. In 2010, in

4992-401: The nineteenth, twentieth and into the twenty-first centuries, some 2 years apart, sometimes ten. Apart from cycle downturns or recessions that linked the US and UK economies especially up until WWI because large amounts of capital flowed annually from USA to London after each Autumn Harvest and flowed back again in time for Spring planting. There were recessions, often called panics, in 60 out of

5070-416: The political impact of some of the more extreme cuts proposed by the report, especially as a general election was thought likely to be held in the near future . Meanwhile George Younger , then the Scottish Secretary , stated that the Government had no intention of allowing drastic cuts to Scotland's railway services. Mrs Thatcher made it known that decisions on the report would not immediately be taken and it

5148-406: The principal place. Thomas Cromwell transformed the financial administration of the country, restoring authority to the Exchequer and making the King's Chamber, of central importance under Henry VII, back into a small spending department overseeing the Royal Household. The fact that Cromwell had a key post in the old Chamber system as well as being Chancellor of the Exchequer shows how he did this. For

5226-453: The public spending survey and the annual Budget had been established. In its evolution the Treasury had to learn some valuable lessons. In 1711, the Treasury established a scheme whereby it secured government debt by the authorisation of its subscription into the capital of the South Sea Company, with government creditors in return holding stock in the company. After 1714, the Treasury was always in commission. The commissioners were referred to as

5304-486: The same time no longer be responsible for Government debt management, or, as it turned out, the National Gold Reserve. In 1997 the Government transferred for monetary policy claiming this meant The Bank of England was now a truly fully independent central bank. The Debt Management Office United Kingdom was created in April 1998 as an executive agency of HM Treasury to take over responsibility for debt management. In April 2000, responsibilities for Exchequer cash management

5382-699: The second most influential in the British Civil Service ; two recent incumbents have gone on to be Cabinet Secretary , the only post outranking it. From October 2022, the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury is James Bowler and there are two Second Permanent Secretaries: Cat Little and Beth Russell . The previous Permanent Secretary, Sir Tom Scholar , was sacked by Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng and Prime Minister Liz Truss shortly after they took office. The Treasury publishes cross-government guidance including Managing Public Money and The Green Book: Central Government Guidance on appraisal and evaluation , current version dated 2020. Managing Public Money includes

5460-419: Was Jewish) and Jack Straw (whose great-grandfather was Jewish). Mandelson said that "apart from the fact that I am not actually Jewish , I wear my father's parentage with pride". Dalyell denied accusations that the remarks were anti-Semitic . In March 2003, regarding the 2003 invasion of Iraq , Dalyell accused Blair of being a war criminal. He stated that "since Mr Blair is going ahead with his support for

5538-405: Was a colonial civil servant and a scion of the Loch family . Highland Clearances facilitator James Loch (1780–1855) was an ancestral uncle. Loch (and his son) took his wife's surname in 1938, and through his mother Dalyell inherited the baronetcy of Dalyell , but he never used the title. Dalyell was educated at the Edinburgh Academy and Eton College . He did his national service with

5616-624: Was a long series of deficits, for which in addition to the offsets of the Empire's entrepot trade, Gold was needed, such as from Canada, Australia, USA, and South Africa, culminating too in the Boer War . Prudence and discretion alone almost always proved insufficient. The Treasury and The Bank faced many crises regarding gold reserve needed for domestic, British Empire, and foreign trade and policy purposes, not all good, practical or merely pragmatic, some undoubtedly nefarious? Considered by some as

5694-399: Was anticipated it would be shelved until after the general election. Serpell himself suffered heavy criticism and personal attacks. According to his obituary, he was 'harangued by the guard on his train home to Devon.' He found the personal criticism unfair. In his view, he had merely produced a report to answer a question put by a Minister and it was 'no fault of his that the question was not

5772-592: Was entitled; the House of Commons' Fees Office released £7,800. Dalyell was given an honorary doctorate by Heriot-Watt University in 2011. Dalyell married Kathleen Wheatley, a teacher, on 26 December 1963; she was the elder daughter of John Wheatley , Lord Advocate and Labour MP for East Edinburgh. They have a son Gordon Wheatley Dalyell, and a daughter Moira, both of whom are lawyers. In his retirement, and for some years previously, he contributed obituaries to The Independent . In 2011 he published his autobiography, The Importance of Being Awkward . The dedication

5850-586: Was financed by British banks and when as a consequence the circulation of international payments became less liquid i.e. dried up. In response to this crisis, John Maynard Keynes (renowned economist), persuaded Chancellor Lloyd George to use the Bank of England's gold reserves to support banks. This ended the immediate crisis. Keynes stayed on as adviser to the Treasury until 1919. The war of 1914–18 saw National Debt rise from £650 million to £7,500 million by 1919. The Treasury developed new expertise in foreign exchange, currency, credit and price control skills in

5928-883: Was indirect as well as direct, personal as well as institutional, in slavery and other heinous trades. The Bank's main roles were, however, more equivalent to that of overdraft finance or factoring, with responsibilities for external account or trade finance. Like all banks, assets and liabilities must always balance. The Bank and took the Government's Treasury deposits, including specie and precious metals, and issued notes. With paper money and debt securities and credit notes, it became widely better understood, especially internationally, that money had taken on many new forms or denominations, possess no intrinsic market value like Gold and yet still retain qualities of creditworthiness or trust to fulfil money payment obligations. But money in its various forms also meant money that can only be used in certain contexts or place and or types of business, requiring

6006-464: Was needed was a "fund of money," or a term familiar today, but by which is really meant either precious metals or 'hard' currency such as US dollars mainly that grew in importance after WW1 to pay external trade bills i.e. questions of financial liquidity or circulation needed to maintain and grow the nation's national income and trade, but above all to honour the nation's foreign obligations. Failures to do so can lead to casus belli . The early 1700s saw

6084-556: Was transferred to the DMO and represented the conclusion of the Government's restructuring of the management of monetary and debt policy launched by the Exchequer in May 1997. The DMO assumed responsibility for issuing Treasury bills (very short–dated securities) from this date. In July 2002 the operations of the Public Works Loan Board – now referred to as the PWLB lending facility and operated on behalf of HM Treasury; and

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