TRADE UNION LEADER APPOINTED TO BANK OF ENGLAND BOARD

The Chancellor has appointed the leader of Britain's trade union movement to a seat on the Bank of England's board, according to reports. One report said the Chancellor made the appointment as part of a wider round of new board appointments. The trade union leader had called for a new tax on banks' "mega profits" just hours earlier, according to another report. That report described the appointee as the left-wing leader of the trade union movement. Reports on the appointment highlighted the close timing between the tax call and the board appointment.

One report said the Chancellor named the trade union leader alongside other appointees to the Bank of England's board, though it did not identify the others. The trade union leader made the call for a new tax on banks' "mega profits" shortly before the board appointment became public, according to another report. Neither report set out a detailed proposal for the scale or structure of the proposed tax. The Bank of England serves as the UK's central bank. The appointment gives the trade union leader a formal role in the institution's governance, according to the reports.

The tax intervention and the board appointment both featured prominently in coverage of the story. One report named the appointment as one of several the Chancellor made but gave no date for when the new member would take up the seat. Neither the Treasury nor the Bank of England commented in the reports. The trade union leader offered no further comment beyond the earlier call for the tax on bank profits.