The Bank of England’s (BoE’s) monetary policy committee (MPC) voted to reduce the stock of UK government bond purchases held for monetary policy purposes by £70 billion ($95.5bn) over the 12-month period from October 2025 to September 2026. On September 17, the stock of UK government bonds held for monetary policy purposes was £558 billion.
Over the previous 12 months, following the MPC’s September 2024 decision about the pace of quantitative tightening (QT), the stock of gilts held for monetary policy purposes had been reduced by £100 billion, of which £13 billion had been through gilt sales.
“The Bank of England should reduce the stock of UK government bond purchases held for monetary policy purposes, and financed by the issuance of central bank reserves, by £70 billion over the next 12 months, to a total of £488 billion,” according to the MPC’s decision.