Labour stormed to a landslide victory at the 2024 general election last week.
On the steps of 10 Downing Street, Keir Starmer, the new Prime Minister, told the nation that his premiership would be “country first, party second”, and promised to lead a “government of service”. Markets have so far responded positively to the new administration.
We already have an idea about what a Labour government will mean for our money thanks to its manifesto. The electorate will not know its concrete plans and how it will fund them until the King’s Speech and Labour’s first Budget.
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But who will be enacting Labour’s policies on Starmer’s behalf? Here’s a round-up of who is in the new cabinet.
Who’s in the Labour cabinet?
While the PM already had a shadow cabinet in place during his time in opposition, some members of his top team lost their seats and will therefore need to be replaced. Most prominent among these were former shadow paymaster general Jon Ashworth, and ex-shadow culture secretary Thangam Debbonaire.
We’ve outlined who the key members of the government are when it comes to your personal finances.
Rachel Reeves becomes the UK's first ever female Chancellor of the Exchequer
Rachel Reeves
Rachel Reeves has been appointed as the Chancellor of the Exchequer - a role she was always certain to get given the market sensitivity around the government post.
Becoming the first woman ever to head up the Treasury, the new Chancellor will only have a brief moment to savour her new job before the hard work begins. Assuming the new administration will want to deliver a Budget as soon as possible, she will have only weeks to prepare to deliver the key fiscal event.
Reeves has said she will announce the date of the Budget later this month (July) - it's widely expected to take place in September or October.
The Leeds West and Pudsey MP, a former Bank of England and HBOS economist, will have to make tough decisions given Labour has said it will follow Jeremy Hunt’s tight fiscal rules. According to the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank, these rules will mean real-terms spending cuts will hit public services that aren’t ring-fenced.
Reeves will also have to decide what to prioritise out of Labour’s tax agenda. Key measures in its manifesto included reform of inheritance tax and ending the tax break on private school fees. There is also the great manifesto unmentionable of income tax fiscal drag, which means the tax will rise for millions of workers as wages grow.
Angela Rayner will lead the government's housing agenda
Angela Rayner
The Labour deputy leader has become the deputy Prime Minister and secretary of state for housing, communities and local government. Her role will put her at the heart of implementing Labour’s Freedom to Buy pledge, reforming house building and changing the buy-to-let market.
Key bits of legislation that will be in her departmental in-tray include resurrecting the Renters (Reform) Bill, and beefing up the leasehold reforms that were watered down at the end of the last Parliament.
Liz Kendall is the new DWP secretary
Liz Kendall
Liz Kendall has been put in charge of the work and pensions brief. The first thing she's likely to do in the role is to commit to the triple lock on state pensions - one of the first cast-iron commitments Labour made on the campaign trail.
However, with the state pension now rising to a level that means pensioners could face an income tax bill over the coming years - and warnings that the triple lock is unsustainable - Kendall faces some key decisions in the months ahead.
Within the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), there have been a number of minister appointments, such as Stephen Timms and Alison McGovern.
Emma Reynolds
Emma Reynolds, the MP for Wycombe, has been appointed as pensions minister.
Her role straddles the Treasury and the DWP, raising hopes that future pension policy will be more “joined up”.
Former pensions minister Steve Webb, who is a partner at the consultancy LCP, comments: "In the past, the two departments have not always been ‘joined up’ when it comes to pensions policy, with Treasury changes to pension tax relief sometimes undermining DWP efforts to boost pension saving. With a combined appointment there is the opportunity for decisions on pensions to take full account of the whole pensions landscape.
"One risk however is that the Treasury desire to see pension assets used to promote economic growth at a macro level could mean that the individual member perspective gets less attention than it should. This is something that the new minister will have to guard against."
Reynolds will have a busy in-tray as she takes up the post. It's likely to include planning the pensions dashboard, deciding on Waspi compensation and extending automatic enrolment - as well as launching a pension review, as outlined in the Labour manifesto.
Other Labour cabinet members
We’ve listed who the other members of the cabinet are, plus ministerial appointments relating to finance. Here’s who we know about so far:
- Foreign Secretary: David Lammy
- Home Secretary: Yvette Cooper
- Defence Secretary: John Healey
- Health Secretary: Wes Streeting
- Energy Secretary: Ed Miliband
- Education Secretary: Bridget Phillipson
- Justice Secretary: Shabana Mahmood
- Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster: Pat McFadden
- Financial Secretary to the Treasury: Lord Livermore
- Chief Secretary to the Treasury: Darren Jones
- Economic Secretary to the Treasury: Tulip Siddiq
- Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Chief Whip): Sir Alan Campbell
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