It’s crazy for Government to blame economic chaos on Bank of England even if Bailey’s performance has been woeful

TIME for a reality check on the true causes of our economic chaos.

It is crazy for the Government solely to blame the Bank of England . . . even if Governor Andrew Bailey’s performance HAS been woeful.

No10 cannot duck responsibility. The markets were febrile enough when Kwasi Kwarteng unveiled his mini Budget.

Much of it was popular: The energy bailout, 1p off tax, reversing the National Insurance rise.

But the sudden, undiscussed tax cut for the rich plus promises of more reductions to come — none costed by the Office for Budget Responsibility — tipped the City into panic.

We know Liz Truss was in a hurry to unleash her pro-growth revolution — last month’s -0.3 per cent slump shows why — but the timing was disastrous.

The root cause, though, was the Bank’s failure last year to recognise inflation as a lasting threat. It raised interest rates too timidly, too slowly.

Putin’s war then sent it sky-rocketing out of control.

The Bank has since bought up bonds to calm the markets, told them that would end tomorrow, then reportedly U-turned.

Mixed messages are not what they need.

Huge global forces are in play too. Mortgages across much of the West are even higher than here. But only yesterday the PM fuelled the chaos by claiming no Government spending will be cut.

How, then, can she balance the books?

Truss and Bailey need urgently to sing from the same hymn sheet.

The mayhem is terrifying. Markets crave stability and confidence.

Ours have neither.

Shale shame

ANY Tories plotting with Labour’s wreckers to thwart fracking should be ashamed.

With energy scarce, families hammered by soaring bills and vast sums waiting to be invested in UK shale, it would be insane not to explore it.

We hope locals will get decent inducements to conquer their fears — mostly generated by baseless eco scaremongering playing perfectly into Putin’s hands.

Only the ambulance-blocking Doomsday dimwits of Just Stop Oil think you can power Britain without investing in new fossil fuel sites.

They will be critical until we have enough secure Net Zero capacity from wind, solar and nuclear.

Shale’s potential as a job-creating source of cheap gas looks immense.

The objection that it “won’t cut our bills” is purest drivel.

Ask Americans how shale slashed theirs.