HM Treasury  

Hillier elected as new chair of Treasury committee

Hillier elected as new chair of Treasury committee
Dame Meg Hillier is the new chair of the Treasury Committee. (UK Parliament)

MPs have appointed a new chair of the Treasury select committee.

Dame Meg Hillier will take up the job after being the sole nominee and therefore being elected unopposed.

The Labour MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch takes over from Conservative Harriet Baldwin, who chaired the committee for two years. 

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Hillier chaired the Public Accounts Committee for nine years and was made a dame in 2021. Before running the Public Accounts Committee she was briefly shadow secretary of state for energy under Ed Miliband's leadership of the Labour Party.

She has been an MP since 2005, before which she was a member of the London Assembly and a journalist in regional media.

Hillier said: "During my nine-year tenure leading the Public Accounts Committee, I learned a thing or two about the mistakes governments can make with taxpayers’ money.

"I will work day-in and day-out, as chair of the Treasury committee, to ensure His Majesty’s Treasury and its affiliated public bodies are managing the public finances in the best interests of the British public.” 

She added: "I look forward to working with my fellow MPs to scrutinise the actions of this country’s most prominent financial institutions over the course of the next parliament."

Members of the Treasury committee have not yet been appointed.

In her pitch for the job Hillier called her style of chairing "collaborative" and promised regular communication with MPs across the House of Commons. 

She also said she would hold quick inquiries on topical subjects as well as longer inquiries where appropriate. 

Key issues she identified were long-term mortgage policy, orphan financial instruments such as child trust funds and Lifetime Isas, and tax policy. 

tara.o'connor@ft.com

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