UK business minister Rees-Mogg backs BoE's 'respected' Bailey

LONDON (Reuters) -British business minister Jacob Rees-Mogg said on Wednesday he had full confidence in the "respected" governor of the Bank of England (BoE), Andrew Bailey, when asked about his handling of surging inflation and market turmoil.

Bailey, who took over the top job at the Bank just as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in Europe, has led the BoE's response to the market turmoil that erupted after the government launched a new economic policy with huge unfunded tax cuts.

Having intervened to buy long-dated British government debt to prevent pension funds from collapse, Bailey warned the industry on Tuesday that the Bank was sticking to its plan to end the support on Friday.

A few hours later the Financial Times reported that the Bank had signalled privately to lenders that it was prepared to extend the emergency programme if necessary.

Asked on Sky News if he had confidence in Bailey, Rees-Mogg replied: "Yes of course I've got confidence in the governor of the Bank of England.

"It is so important that we have an independent Bank of England with a respected governor. Andrew Bailey is a respected governor and the Bank of England's independence is operating as it should. He must make the decisions in relation to market support."

He also said he did not believe there was a systemic problem with pension funds.

(Reporting by William James and Farouq Suleiman; editing by Kate Holton)