The creator of the "EdStone" has joined the Treasury after Tulip Siddiq left. Torsten Bell, who was Ed Miliband's adviser while he was the leader of Labour, is said to have been the inspiration behind the much-maligned election prop.Inscribed on an 8-foot stone tablet, the so-called "EdStone" displayed the party's 2015 election pledges. Some believed it looked like a tombstone, while others ridiculed it as an attempt to duplicate the tablets that God had given to Moses. As the head of the Resolution Foundation, a powerful center-left think group, Mr. Bell suggested slashing the VAT level for companies and capping tax-free Isas at £100,000 in his later work.Mr Bell, now the MP for Swansea West, is considered one of the best economists in the country, and his appointment as a Treasury minister will be seen as an attempt to beef up the economic heft of the department’s ministerial team.He will also be the new pensions minister in the Department for Work and Pensions.
His promotion comes just a day after Olaf Henricson-Bell, his twin brother, was made the head of the No 10 policy unit.Meanwhile, Emma Reynolds has replaced Ms Siddiq, who resigned as economic secretary to the Treasury amid allegations of corruption, which she denies.
The MP for Wycombe made a return to Parliament in July after four and a half years, having served as the MP for Wolverhampton North East until 2019.She held several shadow frontbench roles under Mr Miliband, and was the head of the all-party parliamentary group on China.
Before the general election, Ms Reynolds was a member of a City lobbying group that pushed to keep China off the enhanced tier of the foreign influence registration scheme.
The group tried to bolster national security by compelling those working with foreign nations deemed a “potential risk to UK safety” to declare their lobbying activities.
Her lobbying history was reported on by Bloomberg in December when she was still in a more junior Treasury role.
A source told the outlet that she would not be working on China policy at the time. It is unclear if that will remain the position in Ms Reynolds’s new job.
Ms Reynolds’s appointment signals a further attempt by the Government to gain closer financial links with Beijing, and follows Rachel Reeves’s three-day trip that was aimed at boosting economic ties with China in an attempt to help deliver growth for Britain.
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