Economic Secretary to the Treasury

United Kingdom Economic Secretary to the Treasury
Royal Arms of His Majesty's Government
Incumbent Tulip Siddiq since 9 July 2024
His Majesty's Treasury
Reports to	First Lord of the Treasury Chancellor of the Exchequer & Second Lord of the Treasury
Nominator	Prime Minister
Appointer	The King (on the advice of the Prime Minister)
Term length	At His Majesty's pleasure
Inaugural holder	Douglas Jay
Formation	13 November 1947
Website	Official Website

The Economic Secretary to the Treasury is a junior ministerial post in His Majesty's Treasury, ranked below the First Lord of the Treasury, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the Paymaster General and the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, and alongside the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury. It ranks at Parliamentary Secretary level and the holder does not attend Cabinet. Since 2014, the holder has also generally held the position of City Minister. It is shadowed by the Shadow Economic Secretary to the Treasury.

History

The office was created in November 1947. In 1961, the Economic Secretary became junior to the new office of Chief Secretary to the Treasury, which held a seat in cabinet.

Following the establishment of the Department of Economic Affairs in 1964, the Economic Secretary, Anthony Crosland, transferred to become Minister of State in that department. The post of Economic Secretary to the Treasury was abolished on 22 December 1964. Although the Department of Economic Affairs closed in 1969, the Treasury post was not re-established until 11 November 1981.

From April 2014 to September 2022, and since October 2022, the office of Economic Secretary to the Treasury has been held concurrently with the portfolio of 'City Minister'.

Responsibilities

The Economic Secretary is responsible, though more senior ministers share in decision-making, for the answering of written and verbal parliamentary questions and for the devising of regulations, orders and legislation in various matters. Until September 2022, these matters included banking and finance, including banks, insurance, personal savings, financial regulation, and foreign exchange reserves. He or she was also involved in taxation as it impacted on these areas, such as tax on savings and pensions, and Insurance Premium Tax. In addition, the Economic Secretary, until September 2002, advised on economic policy and continues to work with other Treasury ministers on the Comprehensive Spending Review and finance bills.

Economic Secretaries to the Treasury, 1947–present

Colour key (for political parties):
  Conservative   Labour

Economic Secretary			Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister		Chancellor
		Douglas Jay	13 November 1947	2 March 1950	Labour		Attlee	Cripps
		John Edwards	19 October 1950	26 October 1951	Labour			Gaitskell
Office not in use			26 October 1951	24 November 1952			Churchill	Butler
		Reginald Maudling	24 November 1952	7 April 1955	Conservative
		Sir Edward Boyle	7 April 1955	11 November 1956	Conservative		Eden	Macmillan
		Derek Walker-Smith	11 November 1956	16 January 1957	Conservative
		Nigel Birch	16 January 1957	6 January 1958	Conservative		Macmillan	Thorneycroft
Office not in use			6 January 1958	23 October 1958				H-Amory
		Frederick Erroll	23 October 1958	22 October 1959	Conservative
		Anthony Barber	22 October 1959	16 July 1962	Conservative
								Lloyd
		Edward du Cann	16 July 1962	21 October 1963	Conservative			Maudling
		Maurice Macmillan	21 October 1963	16 October 1964	Conservative		D-Home
		Anthony Crosland	19 October 1964	22 December 1964	Labour		Wilson	Callaghan
Office not in use			22 December 1964	11 November 1981
								Jenkins
							Heath	Macleod
								Barber
							Wilson	Healey
							Callaghan
							Thatcher	Howe
		Jock Bruce-Gardyne	11 November 1981	13 June 1983	Conservative
		John Moore	13 June 1983	19 October 1983	Conservative			Lawson
		Ian Stewart	19 October 1983	11 June 1987	Conservative
		Peter Lilley	11 June 1987	24 July 1989	Conservative
		Richard Ryder	24 July 1989	14 July 1990	Conservative
								Major
		John Maples	23 July 1990	14 April 1992	Conservative
							Major	Lamont
		Anthony Nelson	14 April 1992	6 July 1995	Conservative
								Clarke
		Angela Knight	6 July 1995	2 May 1997	Conservative
		Helen Liddell	3 May 1997	27 July 1998	Labour		Blair	Brown
		Patricia Hewitt	27 July 1998	17 May 1999	Labour
		Melanie Johnson	17 May 1999	8 June 2001	Labour
		Ruth Kelly	8 June 2001	15 May 2002	Labour
Office not in use			15 May 2002	30 May 2002
		John Healey	30 May 2002	6 May 2005	Labour
		Ivan Lewis	May 2005	May 2006	Labour
		Ed Balls	6 May 2006	28 June 2007	Labour
		Kitty Ussher	29 June 2007	5 October 2008	Labour		Brown	Darling
		Ian Pearson	5 October 2008	11 May 2010	Labour
		Justine Greening	13 May 2010	14 October 2011	Conservative		Cameron (Coalition)	Osborne
		Chloe Smith	14 October 2011	4 September 2012	Conservative
		Sajid Javid	4 September 2012	7 October 2013	Conservative
		Nicky Morgan	7 October 2013	9 April 2014	Conservative
		Andrea Leadsom	9 April 2014	11 May 2015	Conservative
		Harriett Baldwin	11 May 2015	16 July 2016	Conservative		Cameron (II)
		Simon Kirby	17 July 2016	9 June 2017	Conservative		May (I)	Hammond
		Steve Barclay	14 June 2017	9 January 2018	Conservative		May (II)
		John Glen	9 January 2018	6 July 2022	Conservative
							Johnson	Javid
								Sunak
		Richard Fuller	8 July 2022	27 October 2022	Conservative			Zahawi
							Truss	Kwarteng
								Hunt
		Andrew Griffith	27 October 2022	13 November 2023	Conservative		Sunak
		Bim Afolami	13 November 2023	5 July 2024	Conservative
		Tulip Siddiq	9 July 2024	Incumbent	Labour		Starmer	Reeves

See also

• Secretary to the Treasury