Central banks themselves have argued that QE in part functions through rising asset prices so this hardly seems controversial. However, there is a deeper issue that conventional monetary policy also affects risk prremia. There has been some initial attempts to model spreads in central bank policy reaction functions which is welcome, but it is far from clear that risk taking can be summarised by a single metric. This creates a spil-over between monetary and financial policy which probably requires some further thought.

For many reasons, not least the legitimacy of our external policy and the integrity of the union. Obvioulsy this needs to be evidence based. I do not think that tax subsidies are necessarily the best way. But productivity levels and trends have become so divergent as long as London suffers some degree of slowdown then there is no obvious area which can offset this. This requires a real rethink of poliyc. For example, identifiable public expenditure is greater in London and the South than the North and how do we include our public support for tertiary education across the UK. Can we have technology only graduate schools in the North? Or chemical science in Teeside rather than London.