New government: ministerial appointments

Following Andy Burnhams entry into Downing Street yesterday afternoon, the fresh round of ministerial announcements has started to trickle through. We shall update this page as and when appointments are confirmed.

In terms of departures, this was a fairly ruthless cull of Starmer loyalists with 11 former members of Cabinet leaving government.

One ally of the former Prime Minister who has come out on top is Defra’s former Secretary of State, Emma Reynolds, who returns to the Treasury as Chief Secretary to the Treasury (CST). While CST is technically a more junior position, Reynolds is now the second most powerful minister in HM Treasury and has responsibility for public expenditure including spending reviews and strategic planning; in-year spending controls; and driving efficiency and value for money.

In short, she is responsible for enforcing fiscal discipline and setting budgets across all government departments.

Defra Secretary of State – Dame Angela Eagle DBE MP

Following her brief jump back to the Home Office as Security Minister, Dame Angela returns to Defra, this time leading the department as the Secretary of State. During her time as Food Security Minister, we always found her to be a very pragmatic minister who approached policy decisions on an evidenced based position.

Her return to the department is hugely welcome as it represents leadership from a highly experienced minister who understands the department’s brief.