Editing Gordon Brown (section)

===Early economic reforms===
On taking office as chancellor, Brown gave the [[Bank of England]] operational independence in [[monetary policy]], and thus responsibility for setting interest rates through the Bank's [[Monetary Policy Committee (United Kingdom)|Monetary Policy Committee]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Schifferes |first=Steve |date=6 June 2002 |title=Five years on: Rating the MPC |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2002471.stm |url-status=live |access-date=21 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070213024319/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2002471.stm |archive-date=13 February 2007}}</ref> At the same time, he also changed the [[Inflation|inflation measure]] from the [[Retail Price Index]] to the [[Consumer Price Index (United Kingdom)|Consumer Price Index]] and transferred responsibility for banking supervision to the [[Financial Services Authority]].<ref>{{cite web |date=6 May 1997 |title=Chancellor announces new framework for monetary policy |url=http://archive.treasury.gov.uk/press/1997/p40_97.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720163816/http://archive.treasury.gov.uk/press/1997/p40_97.html |archive-date=20 July 2011 |access-date=27 February 2009 |publisher=HM Treasury}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |year=1997 |title=Memorandum of Understanding between HM Treasury, the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority |url=http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/financialstability/mou.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101203101708/http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/financialstability/mou.pdf |archive-date=3 December 2010 |access-date=14 October 2012 |publisher=HM Treasury, Bank of England, FSA}}</ref> Some commentators have argued that this division of responsibilities exacerbated the severity in Britain of the [[2008 financial crisis]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hosking |first=Patrick |date=2 June 2009 |title=Gordon Brown and Treasury accused on banking crisis |work=[[The Times]] |url=http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article6410087.ece |url-status=dead |access-date=19 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611225442/http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article6410087.ece |archive-date=11 June 2011}}</ref>