Sir Keir Starmer’s new economics guru has ‘no experience of business’, carries ‘little clout in the markets’ and is a big fan of wealth taxes, it was claimed today.
Baroness Minouche Shafik is set to be hired as the Prime Minister’s chief economic adviser in the latest revamp of No 10’s top team as growth stalls and Chancellor Rachel Reeves lines up swingeing tax hikes in her autumn Budget.
In her new role Lady Shafik, a former deputy governor of the Bank of England, will act as a bridge between Starmer and Reeves, who is lining up a tax hikes to fill a hole in the public finances of up to £50 billion.
Lady Shafik has previously worked with Torsten Bell, the pensions minister and former boss of the Resolution Foundation think-tank, who was last week promoted to play a key role in Budget preparations.
In 2023 Lady Shafik co-chaired a Resolution Foundation inquiry which called for the abolition of inheritance tax relief on farms and bringing pension pots within a dead person’s estate.
