Miliband as Chancellor would be “noose around the neck” of jobs, union warns
Key Points
- Unite's Sharon Graham warns against Ed Miliband as chancellor
- Says Miliband would be a "noose around the neck" of jobs
- Follows reports Rachel Reeves could be replaced at the Treasury
- Miliband seen as frontrunner if Andy Burnham becomes PM
- Burnham's team denies any cabinet decisions have been made
Trade Union Unite has warned that appointing Ed Miliband as chancellor would harm job creation, weighing in on the growing question of who would run the Treasury if Andy Burnham becomes Prime Minister.
Sharon Graham, Unite General Secretary, said the prospect of Miliband taking over at the Treasury would be “a noose around the neck” of efforts to protect and create jobs.
Graham told The Observer that placing someone who was not “pro-worker in their gut” close to economic decision-making was a problem for a party that presented itself as the party of workers. Unite was previously Labour’s biggest funder.
The intervention comes amid speculation over the future of Rachel Reeves. Burnham’s team played down a Sunday Times report that a decision had already been taken to replace Reeves at the Treasury, though allies of the chancellor acknowledge that her chances of remaining in post are low.
Miliband, the Energy Secretary and a former Treasury adviser under Gordon Brown, has been seen as the frontrunner to succeed Reeves should Burnham enter Downing Street following his by-election win in Makerfield.
His leadership of the transition to net zero has proved contentious in union circles, in particular, his opposition to large expansions of North Sea oil and gas exploration.
Allies of Miliband argue that green energy projects are among the fastest-growing parts of the economy. They say he would bring the rigour and credibility needed against a difficult fiscal backdrop.
Other figures floated as possible future chancellors include Wes Streeting, the former health secretary, foreign secretary Yvette Cooper, and John Healey, who quit as defence secretary this month in a dispute over military funding.
Reeves used her last Budget to ease some of the pressure on her fiscal rules, doubling the headroom against the central rule that requires her to bring the current budget, excluding investment, into surplus by the end of the parliament.
Her buffer against that rule stood at more than £23 billion at the Office for Budget Responsibility’s last forecast in March. Increases in bond yields driven by rising energy prices after the Iran war threatened to erode some of that room, but an interim peace deal between the US and Iran last week helped bring yields down.
