The current director of the Resolution Foundation, Torsten Bell, has been selected as Labour candidate for Swansea West this afternoon. He was told that Starmer’s team were desperate to have him. Co-conspirators may remember Bell, Labour’s Director of Policy under Ed Miliband, touring the news studios applauding the Chancellor for breaking the Tory manifesto promise not to hike NI contributions. Maybe he can serve as Labour minister for breaking tax pledges in a new government…
Bell’s Resolution Foundation released a landmark report in December called “A New Economic Strategy for Britain“. Its recommendations are:
At the same time Bell was arguing that ISAs should be abolished because they “work for the top“. His underlings at the Resolution Foundation have gone on to staff high-level positions at the Office for Budget Responsibility. Richard Hughes, the chairman of the OBR’s Budget Responsibility Committee, and Laura Gardiner, its Deputy Chief of Staff, are ex-Resolution. While Reeves pledges to hand the keys to the Treasury to the OBR, Labour MP Bell will have the ear of its top staff…
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood introduced her speech on migration reforms at the IPPR:
“There’s no denying we meet at a difficult time for my party.”