 The Bank of England has never had a female governor. The Bank of England's top officials make decisions which impact everyone in Britain, but right now their members come from a narrow range of backgrounds. Out of the 23 members on the most important committees, only 7 are female. BAME communities are underrepresented and the bank itself recently revealed that BAME staff are leaving the bank in disproportionate numbers. And a majority of those on the Monetary Policy Committee, which is in charge of setting interest rates and policies such as quantitative easing, were working in the city or for large companies before taking up their post. This results in the kind of group thing which helped cause the last financial crisis, something which the bank itself acknowledges. So is it surprising that over the past decade the bank's policies have disproportionately benefited the wealthiest in society? The bank itself even admitted that its policies have increased the wealth of the top fifth of households by 200 times more than the poorest. In the next few months, the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, will have to make some of the most important decisions of his political career. Who to appoint as governor and deputy governor of the Bank of England? In doing this, he has the chance to fix a problem that's plagued the bank for decades. The fact that the makeup of its senior positions bears so little resemblance to the country its mission is to serve. So before Philip Hammond makes these crucial decisions that will affect our country for years to come, we need to make sure he understands that we need more diversity at the central bank. Because unless the most powerful committees are representative of our country as a whole, they can't possibly understand how every community is affected by their decisions. So we need more women, more people of colour, and more people working in the real economy outside the financial sector, or for trade unions or civil society organisations. We've partnered with 38 Degrees on a petition, which already over a thousand people have signed. So please help us make sure every community is represented at the top table. Please sign and share the petition now.