The Bank of England is creating billions of pounds of public money to bail out big polluters and corporate giants, such as EasyJet, Rolls Royce and G4S. But if we really want to #BuildBackBetter, our central bank must stop fueling climate breakdown and neglectful corporations and start leading our green recovery. The Treasury and Bank of England must attach conditions to these bailouts to stop mass layoffs, prevent future tax avoidance, and push companies to play their part in building our green recovery.

We cannot let history repeat itself. In 2008, the banks got bailed out and the public got sold out. This time we must grab every opportunity to make sure every penny of public money goes to building a fairer and greener economy for everyone.

Background:

To help combat the economic fallout of Coronavirus, the Treasury and the Bank of England created the Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF). It supports the UK's biggest corporations by using newly created public money to buy up companies' short-term debt.

While governor Andrew Bailey publicly said we must “preserv[e] our planet for generations to come”, the Bank has been doing anything but - with billions of CCFF funds going to airlines, auto, oil and gas companies. At the same time these companies slash thousands of jobs.

EasyJet announced cuts to 30% of its workforce after they got £600 million. British Airways is pressing ahead with 12,000 job cuts despite state support, and aerospace company Rolls-Royce, which also tapped into the scheme for £600 million, went on to axe 3,000 jobs across the UK.

Oilfield companies, Baker Hughes and Schlumberger have also received millions, alongside private contractor G4S, despite a history of human rights abuses and numerous failures to deliver on public contracts.

Initially the Bank tried to hide these bailouts by making companies sign confidentiality agreements. But Positive Money supporters forced them to make these names public. Now it’s time to push them even further and make sure public money is used to support environmentally and socially responsible companies.