LONDON, Sept 12 Reuters A national conversation is needed to assuage public fears that a digital version of the pound would allow the government to spy on them, Bank of England deputy governor designate Sarah Breeden said on Tuesday.

The BoE and Britain39;s finance ministry have been consulting on whether and how to introduce a digital pound, probably in the second half of this decade.

But critics of the concept say a digital currency could be used by governments to track what people spend their money on, and make it harder to make payments and purchases using cash.

European Union policymakers have already sought to reassure the public that a digital euro is not a Big Brother surveillance project.

I think on the back of that we need to start a national conversation, actually, because while I39;m supportive of that technology, as was apparent in the responses we got to the discussion paper there39;s a lot of concern about privacy, Breeden told a hearing in parliament39;s Treasury Select Committee on her appointment.

A digital pound would be the anchor for all money in the digital world to ensure trust in money, she said.

So analytically, it39;s the right thing I can see a case for it. How you manage the privacy challenges, the role of the state I think we are at the start of the debate on that, Breeden said.

The privacy concerns about programmability, I recognise those as real concerns, and what we need to do … is reassure the public on how privacy is going…