Lucy Rigby back as City minister
Lucy Rigby has been demoted to City minister after a stint as the chief secretary to the Treasury.
Rigby, who previously served in the role under Keir Starmer, was moved from her cabinet role by Burnham and will now return to the dual brief of economic secretary to the Treasury and City minister.
The former lawyer served in the position for the best part of nine months before taking over as the chief secretary to the Treasury in May, in the reshuffle following Wes Streeting’s resignation.
Rigby’s appointment is the most recent in a major Treasury shake-up, in which Burnham promoted Angela Eagle to environment secretary and moved Emma Reynolds – herself a former City minister – to become chief secretary to the Treasury. Number 10 has not yet confirmed whether Torsten Bell will remain as pensions minister and whether Dan Tomlinson continues to serve as the minister overseeing tax.
Rachel Blake, the MP for Cities of London and Westminster, has left the government.
Rigby proved to be a popular Labour figure among City investors while also winning over the trust of Starmer, who took her on his state visit to China earlier this year.
As City minister in the previous government, she fronted a new tax holiday for stamp duty on shares for newly-listed companies and looked to celebrate IPOs despite the UK’s struggling capital markets.
City to monitor Treasury developments
Burnham opted mostly to appoint Treasury ministers that had previously served in the department. John Healey, who took over as Chancellor from Rachel Reeves, was a minister in the department during Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’s premierships.
Murray, who was the tax minister before becoming chief secretary to the Treasury, is now the financial secretary to the Treasury and the paymaster general.
The financial secretary to the Treasury is also referred to as the growth minister and is responsible for overseeing regional growth and supporting the British Business Bank as well as the National Wealth Fund. Murray will take over from Lord Spencer Livermore, who was a close ally of Reeves.
The government also confirmed that Lord Jason Stockwood, the former director of match.com and chief executive of Simply Business, would no longer serve as the investment minister.