Starmer and Reeves appoint new advisors in push for growth
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves have announced the appointment of several new advisors in a bid to help improve economic growth.
Professor John Van Reenen has been appointed by the Chancellor as an adviser on economic growth. Van Reenen worked as Chair of the Chancellor’s Council of Economic Advisers before returning to his role as Ronald Coase School Professor at the London School of Economics.
He will now report directly to the Chancellor as a direct ministerial appointment, continuing to focus on the Plan for Change’s growth mission.
Van Reenen will work one day a week without pay. The appointment will begin in September and last for 12 months. (The appointment may be extended.)
“We have fixed the foundations by securing economic stability, delivering three major trade deals, and becoming the fastest growing economy in the G7 – but we still have work to do to build an economy that works for working people,” said Reeves.
“John’s continued commitment will help us deliver the government’s mission to kickstart economic growth and raise living standards right across the country.”
New appointments by Starmer
On Monday 1 September, Starmer also announced two new appointments focused on growth.
Rt Hon Darren Jones MP has been appointed as the Chief Secretary (Minister of State) to the Prime Minister and No. 10 Downing Street.
The Chief Secretary role is a new appointment that will work collaboratively across the UK Government to drive forward progress in key policy areas, reporting directly to the Prime Minister.
The Ministerial role, based within No10 Downing Street, will directly oversee work across Government to support the delivery of the Prime Minister’s priorities and the Government’s Plan for Change.
Starmer also announced the appointment of Baroness Shafik as his Chief Economic Advisor. Shafik will support the Government to go further and faster in driving economic growth and raising living standards for all.
Baroness Minouche Shafik is a world-leading economist whose career has straddled public policy and academia.
She served as the Permanent Secretary of the UK’s Department for International Development, Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, and Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, where she sat on the monetary, financial, and prudential policy committees.
She was also President and Vice Chancellor of the London School of Economics and Columbia University, and taught at the Wharton Business School and Georgetown University.
She was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in 2015 and became a crossbench peer in the House of Lords in 2020.
