New pensions minister appointed
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Torsten Bell has replaced Emma Reynolds as pensions minister. Reynolds becomes economic secretary to the Treasury to step in for Tulip Siddiq, who has left the government.
Like his predecessor, Bell will be under both the Treasury and the Department for Work and Pensions. Reynolds’ move means she was only pensions minister for six months.
Bell was chief executive of left-leaning thinktank the Resolution Foundation until he was elected MP for Swansea West last year, causing controversy as some argued he had been ‘parachuted’ into the safe Labour seat to get him into Westminster. Bell was previously director of policy for Labour under Ed Miliband’s leadership. He was also at the Treasury as a member of the Council of Economic Advisers.
Zoe Alexander, director of policy and advocacy at the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association, thanked Reynolds for her leadership and welcomed the new minister.
Bell was chief executive of left-leaning thinktank the Resolution Foundation until he was elected MP for Swansea West last year, causing controversy as some argued he had been ‘parachuted’ into the safe Labour seat to get him into Westminster. Bell was previously director of policy for Labour under Ed Miliband’s leadership. He was also at the Treasury as a member of the Council of Economic Advisers.
Zoe Alexander, director of policy and advocacy at the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association, thanked Reynolds for her leadership and welcomed the new minister.
“Torsten is already well known and respected within the pensions industry. We are optimistic that he will bring the leadership that is needed to make progress on both phases of the Pensions Review and look forward to working with him to continue to deliver a system that is adequate, affordable and fair, in the interests of UK savers,” she said.
The president of the Society of Pension Professionals, Sophia Singleton, said the SPP looks forward to working with Bell. The current time is a particularly important one for pensions policy given consultations and projects such as dashboards, value for money, she said, and as "a much-needed pensions adequacy review... appeared to have stalled under the previous minister".
Siddiq resigned over alleged financial links to supporters of the ousted government of Bangladesh, led by her aunt Sheikh Hasina. The independent adviser on ministerial standards found no breach of the ministerial code, but the reputational risk may have convinced Number 10 that she could not be part of the UK government anymore.
Bell’s twin brother Olaf Henricson-Bell has been appointed to head up the Number 10 policy unit, according to The Telegraph. He was previously EU director in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and served as a press secretary to the chancellor and head of communication at the Treasury during Boris Johnson’s government.
