\t\t\t\t\t\tEmail\t\t\t\t\t\tShare on Email\n\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"Bank](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Bank-of-England-3-1200x800-2.jpeg\")
\t\tThe Bank of England’s has been accused of being “woke”. \t<\/p>\n
The Bank of England is facing backlash over its plans to make a new banknote printer comply with ESG and diversity standards under a \u201cpass or fail\u201d regime.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bank officials have attracted criticism from shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith over their plans to make applicants for the UK\u2019s new money printing contract follow stringent criteria on areas including sustainability and equality.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Bank has issued a contract tender for supplying banknotes from 2028 over a period of 10 years as the current deal with paper manufacturer De La Rue<\/a> is set to expire.\u00a0<\/p>\n Under the terms of the \u00a3900m contract, applicants are required to follow key conditions on ESG, equality and diversity and carbon reduction.\u00a0<\/p>\n Applicants will be assessed on a pass or fail basis, with a deadline for bidders to come late next month.\u00a0<\/p>\n Griffith, who stood in for Tory leader Kemi Badenoch during PMQs<\/a> on Wednesday, hit out at Threadneedle Street for prioritising sustainability issues in bidding rounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the UK economy is expected to grow slower than Greece, Albania or Mexico this year, the Bank of England shouldn\u2019t be worrying about finding a \u2018woke<\/a>\u2018 banknote printer but instead helping grow our financial sector,\u201d Griffith told City AM.<\/p>\n Bank of England under fire <\/p>\n A Bank of England spokesperson said legislation on procurement allowed \u201cset conditions of participation\u201d for suppliers hoping to be awarded the lucrative contract.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n \t\t\tFarage\u2019s revenge on the banks proves he is more Trump than Thatcher<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cDetails of these conditions and how they are to be assessed will be shared with applicants in due course,\u201d the spokesperson added.\u00a0<\/p>\n Environmental, social and governance standards and diversity rules have come under more intense scrutiny across the City in recent years given concerns about the UK economy\u2019s low growth, financial services firms\u2019 abandonment of net zero groups and President Trump\u2019s staunch opposition to climate frameworks and diversity campaigns.\u00a0<\/p>\n Barclays and HSBC quit a net zero-focused banking group<\/a> last year while surveys have shown finance professionals taking less interest in championing diversity, equality and inclusion commitments.\u00a0<\/p>\n A report by the think tank Policy Exchange<\/a> last year also found that the value of listed firms that had gained approval from ESG ratings providers fell by twice as much as the FTSE 100 in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n