Reeves appoints higher pay advocate to fight skills shortages as chief economic adviser
Rachel Reeves has appointed a labour market expert who has repeatedly called for better pay and conditions in key sectors, such as social care, to reduce the UK’s reliance on migrant workers as her new chief economic adviser.Prof Brian Bell, who chairs the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), which advises the government, has been announced as the new chief economic adviser in the Treasury – a senior civil service role.He will take up the post just as the UK economy is adjusting to a plunge in net migration, which fell by more than two-thirds, to 204,000, in the year to June 2025.Some economists have predicted a further decline, towards zero net migration – but Bell rejects that forecast, expecting it to bounce back towards 300,000 a year by the end of the decade.A professor of economics at Kings College London, Bell has used his role on the MAC to make the point that the “skills shortages” bemoaned by UK employers may often reflect the failure to offer good enough terms and conditions to domestic workers.
In its 2024 annual report, after Labour came to power, the MAC welcomed the new government’s focus on skills policy as it sought to reduce net migration.But it also warned: “Many sectors exhibit high levels of immigration not just due to skills shortages but as a result of poor pay and working conditions which cause low engagement from the domestic workforce.”It added: “The domestic workforce with relevant skills may be unwilling to supply their labour for the wage and working conditions on offer from employers.”Bell has also argued stridently for better pay in social care.In an interview with the Guardian in 2023, when the Conservatives were still in power, he accused ministers of having “no interest” in the conditions faced by workers in the sector.
“They may not say it explicitly, but I think they basically believe that care workers should be paid less than people who stack shelves for Aldi – because that’s what their policy is,” he said, accusing the government of relying on immigration as a “crutch”,Bell added: “We’re not doing anything on the wages front, and until we do that, then we are accepting that exploitation as part of the way that we’re going to pay for social care: and that just seems appalling,”Labour is establishing a new negotiating body for social care, which aims to agree a fair pay agreement that will become the statutory minimum across the sector,But it is not due to come into force until 2028, and sector experts have said the £500m set aside to pay for it will not be sufficient,The wider issue of how to fund social care is being reviewed by the crossbench peer Louise Casey, who is not expected to report until the run-up to the next general election.
Speaking on a panel at the Bristol festival of economics last year, Bell argued that rapid increases in the number of people coming into the country often reflect wider policy challenges.“It’s almost always that where there’s big immigration numbers, the problem is somewhere else in government not addressing an underlying problem,” he said.Bell’s appointment comes amid a wider refresh of the chancellor’s advisers.Neil Amin-Smith, once the violinist for pop band Clean Bandit and now an economist, was recently made chair of her council of economic advisers, which is made up of political appointees rather than civil servants.Reeves said: “Through stability, investment and reform, this government has the right plan for our economy and the appointment of Prof Brian Bell will strengthen our economic leadership as we deliver for working people.
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Reeves urged to reassure MPs over public finances amid £6bn-a-year Send costs
Rachel Reeves is under pressure to reassure MPs over the state of the UK’s public finances, amid concerns that the rising cost of special educational needs and disabilities (Send) could leave a significant hole in the government’s financial buffer.Meg Hillier, the chair of the all-party House of Commons Treasury committee, said the chancellor should make clear her long-term plans for the £6bn-a-year Send bill as uncertainty grows over how it will be accounted for at the end of the decade.Reeves, who is due to appear before the committee next month, said in a letterto MPs that she plans to delay a decision until next year.City analysts said financial market investors would be concerned if some or all of the £6bn Send annual cost was deducted from the budget surplus, which the chancellor more than doubled in last November’s budget to £22bn to cushion the UK against volatile government bond markets.The spat between MPs and the Treasury comes after the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said the £6bn Send bill was unaccounted for at the budget and expected increases to the bill over the next decade posed a risk to the public finances
Starmer ousts cabinet secretary in clear-out of top team after Mandelson scandal
Keir Starmer’s attempt to shake up his top team after the disastrous Peter Mandelson scandal began on Thursday, when he forced out his most senior civil servant with a view to replacing him with Antonia Romeo.The prime minister announced that Chris Wormald was stepping down “by mutual consent” after just over a year as cabinet secretary, with Romeo almost certain to succeed him as the first woman in the job.Starmer’s decision to oust Wormald drew ire from senior civil servants over the brutality of the move. One person described the mood as “sulphurous” over the prime minister’s apparent willingness to let senior officials go.The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, said the cabinet secretary had become the “latest person Keir Starmer has thrown under the bus to save his own skin”
Who is Antonia Romeo and why is she tipped to be the next cabinet secretary?
Antonia Romeo is not a typical civil servant, according to almost everyone who has worked with or met her in a professional context.Charming, ambitious and not afraid to publicise her own achievements, Romeo was on the shortlist to be cabinet secretary a year ago when Keir Starmer opted instead for a classic “Sir Humphrey” choice in Chris Wormald.But with Wormald now forced out, the permanent secretary of the Home Office finds herself back at the top of the list of appointable candidates and the frontrunner to succeed him.Whitehall sources said earlier this week that Romeo’s appointment was the most likely option but “not nailed on” because No 10 “still don’t know what they want”. It is understood, however, that Downing Street very much intends to appoint her, subject to the civil service commissioner’s approval of the process
Union chief calls for Angela Rayner to replace Keir Starmer or risk Labour defeat to Reform UK
The head of a Labour-affiliated union has called for Angela Rayner to replace Keir Starmer, warning that Starmer risks leading the party into a heavy election defeat to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.Maryam Eslamdoust, the general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA), told the Guardian she wanted the former deputy prime minister to take charge after this month’s Gorton and Denton byelection.Eslamdoust is the first union leader to call openly for Rayner to oust Starmer, adding to pressure on the prime minister at the end of his most difficult week in office.She said: “I think it’s time that the Labour party had a woman leader. The Tories have had three women prime ministers and four leaders and we’ve had none
Chris Wormald forced out of post as cabinet secretary, No 10 confirms – as it happened
Downing Street has confirmed that Chris Wormald has been forced out of his post as cabinet secretary. It has issued a statement saying that Keir Starmer and Wormald have decided that Wormald “will stand down as the cabinet secretary and head of the civil service by mutual agreement from today”.No 10 has not announced his replacement, but it says that Antonia Romeo, the Home Office permanent secretary – who is reportedly the favourite to replace Wormald – will share responsibility for the job in the meantime with Catherine Little, permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office, and James Bowler, permanent secretary at His Majesty’s Treasury.A new cabinet secretary will be appointed “shortly”, No 10 says.In a statement, Starmer said:I am very grateful to Sir Chris for his long and distinguished career of public service, spanning more than 35 years, and for the support that he has given me over the past year
Jeane Freeman obituary
Jeane Freeman, who has died aged 72, held two critical roles in the SNP government at Holyrood, leading the Scottish government’s response to the Covid pandemic alongside Nicola Sturgeon and establishing Scotland’s first devolved social security system.By no means a career politician but an instinctive campaigner from the outset, she entered elected politics a decade ago, and relatively late in life, after a varied career in nursing, criminal justice and the civil service. This followed a political journey from her family’s working-class, trade-unionist roots to the progressive nationalism of the 2014 independence referendum campaign, during which she championed women’s voices and famously took on the broadcaster Andrew Neil in a viral interview about whether the union benefited Scotland’s NHS.Freeman co-founded the cross-party group Women for Independence in 2012, determined to push women’s experience to the heart of the debate that was gripping the country. Her rubric was “there’s no such thing as a stupid question”
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