A controversial minister who campaigned to scrap the pensions triple lock and hike taxes on the middle classes has been appointed to help Rachel Reeves write the Budget.
Pensions minister Torsten Bell has been quietly promoted to help the Chancellor prepare for an autumn Budget where she has to fill a black hole in the public finances estimated at £50billion.
Treasury sources said the Chancellor views Mr Bell as one of Labour’s ‘sharpest minds’. But critics pointed out that he spent years campaigning for higher taxes and spending while leading the Left-wing Resolution Foundation think-tank.
During his time as an adviser to Ed Miliband, Mr Bell was also responsible for the disastrous ‘Ed Stone’ project which saw Labour mocked for carving its 2015 election pledges on an eight-foot slab of limestone.
Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride warned that the appointment reinforced fears that Ms Reeves is plotting another ‘punishing’ Budget this autumn. ‘Labour’s latest appointment confirms their intent – higher taxes, more borrowing, and punishing success,’ he said.
‘Torsten Bell has previously proposed taxing homes, hiking fuel duty, and driving up council tax. He wants to tax your future to pay for Rachel Reeves’ failure.
‘When businesses fail, they go bust. When Rachel Reeves’ policies fail, Labour just borrows and taxes more. That’s the risk of putting people in charge of the economy who have never run a business and never created a job.’
After helping mastermind Mr Miliband’s election-losing manifesto in 2015, Mr Bell spent almost a decade as chief executive of the Resolution Foundation before being parachuted in as Labour’s candidate in Swansea West just weeks before last year’s election.
A controversial minister who campaigned to scrap the pensions triple lock and hike taxes on the middle classes has been appointed to help Rachel Reeves (pictured) write the Budget
Pensions minister Torsten Bell (pictured) has been quietly promoted to help the Chancellor prepare for an autumn Budget
During his time at the think-tank, Mr Bell championed higher taxes. He was appointed as pensions minister in January despite having called in 2020 for an end to the pensions triple lock, which Labour has pledged to preserve.
He has also previously called for pensions tax relief to be cut for higher earners and for a reduction in the amount that can be withdrawn from a pension tax-free – both ideas thought to be under consideration as Ms Reeves scrambles for cash this autumn.
Ms Reeves has already adopted his controversial plan to increase inheritance tax on family farms and businesses and is said to be considering his call to look again at the exemption from capital gains tax for family homes.
An ally of the Chancellor told the New Statesman magazine Mr Bell would bring fresh insights as he has ‘seen the Budget from both ends: in the room helping to write them and on the Today programme dissecting them’.
But former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said the ‘disastrous’ appointment showed that Ms Reeves has run out of ideas after only a year in office. He added: ‘Torsten Bell has spent years coming up with new ways for raising taxes without ever suggesting any ideas for cutting spending. His appointment suggests we are in for even more ruinous tax rises.’
Julian Jessop, of the free market Institute for Economic Affairs, pointed out that the Government’s borrowing costs rose following reports of Mr Bell’s new role. He added: ‘Bond markets not thrilled about Torsten Bell having a bigger say in the Budget, presumably because this makes spending cuts even less likely.’
Mr Bell declined to comment.
