Summer shuffling – who’s who in Rachel Reeves’ mini Treasury refresh?

With the Autumn Budget expected to take place in November, Rachel Reeves this week made a raft of changes to her top Treasury team. Pensions minister and Treasury PPS Torsten Bell will take a leading role in Budget preparations, focusing particularly on economic policy. 

A former head of the Resolution Foundation think tank, Bell was first elected in last year’s general election, having previously served as Special Adviser to Alistair Darling during his Chancellorship, as well as Head of Policy to Ed Miliband as Leader of the Opposition. Darren Jones, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, will lead the Government’s infrastructure strategy and support No 10 on public sector reform.

Amongst Reeves’ personal staff, long-time Chief of Staff Katie Martin will take on responsibility for business relations, while Ben Nunn, Reeves’ media aide since 2023, will become Director of Communications and Strategy and Matt Pound, her political secretary, will become Political Director. Perhaps most significantly, Neil Foster, a former TUC and GMB official, will rejoin her team to focus on trade union and parliamentary relations – a clear recognition of deteriorating relations between Labour MPs/ unions and the Government over the past year. The GMB in particular has been seen by the Starmer team as one of the more pragmatic trade unions to work with.

But is this ‘too little too late’ window dressing for an embattled Reeves? With November’s Budget widely expected to include unpopular tax rises, the fact that there are no ‘new’ additions could indicate that the fundamental direction of travel has been set – today’s trailing of National Insurance on landlord income suggests a more radical course for the Government, which has been at pains to assure it won’t hike taxes on ‘working people.’ Incidentally, this is a policy suggested from Torsten Bell’s time at the Resolution Foundation.

The Government has so far struggled to communicate its policy decisions, in particular the removal of the Winter Fuel Allowance – resulting in a subsequent humiliating u-turn. Yet it still doesn’t feel like Labour has a guiding economic vision for the country. It is very focused on closing the £40 billion blackhole but without explanation of why that’s important and how it will make judgements on how it can best be done. No10 is still without an economic adviser, and the PM has an exclusive focus on foreign affairs and migration, suggesting that the once-flagship ‘growth’ mission has fallen by the PM’s priorities and has been replaced by just one – survive.

With parliament and government departments revving back into gear after the summer break, there are still plenty of opportunities to be included in the Budget up for grabs – now is the time to engage with the Budget process. If your organisation is seeking to engage with Treasury, Luther has over three decades of experience in supporting clients to cut through to government. Contact publicaffairs@luther.co.uk to chat with our team of experts.