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Daisy Cooper speaking at her Lib Dem press conference. Photograph: Jonathan Brady\/PAShare<\/a><\/p>\nKey events<\/p>\n
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Lib Dem plan to break up Treasury – snap verdict<\/p>\n
The Liberal Democrats<\/a> have announced a new idea; it\u2019s a rehash of one that has been kicking around for at least 60 years.<\/p>\n As Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem deputy leader, acknowledged in her speech this morning (see 9.37am<\/a>), people in British politics have been complaining for years about the Treasury having too much power. One prime minister who actually did something about this was Harold Wilson, who created the Department of Economic Affairs in the 1960s as a counterweight to the Treasury. It was supposed to deal with long-term economic planning, leaving the Treasury as more of a simple tax-raising department. It did not last. But prime ministers \u2013 particulary those with difficult relationships with their chancellors \u2013 have been toying with the same idea ever since.<\/p>\n In an article <\/a>about this four years ago, George Dibb, at the time a researcher at the IPPR thinktank, now on secondment to the civil service, said:<\/p>\n Ultimately, Harold Wilson, Gordon Brown and Theresa May are not all wrong. A short-termist Treasury with absolute control in Whitehall will always skew policy in a damaging way. Tony Danker, director general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), made a similar point this month on the role of the Treasury in economic growth: \u201cNo CEO would put the finance department in charge of sales.\u201d The Treasury has to be broken up, with long-term economic strategy the responsibility of a new ministry. That way it would be matched by an equal and opposite force with long-term vision and powers to direct the economy towards socially important goals. Whether that goal is decarbonisation or addressing regional inequality, the Treasury\u2019s instinct to pull tight the purse strings will always be a barrier.<\/p>\n Today, as well as adopting these arguments, Cooper was making an argument about growth, claiming that a stand-alone growth department would do better than the Treasury at boosting GDP. Perhaps. But Rachel Reeves claimed she was turning the Treasury into a growth department when she became chancellor. Since then growth has been disappointing, but in large part that is not because of Whitehall machinery; it\u2019s because there are political objections to the pulling the most effective growth levers (joining the customs union or the single market, increasing immigration) that would apply regardless of which department was in charge.<\/p>\n Still, Cooper is likely to find a lot of people agreeing with her central argument. Those who have suggested breaking up the Treasury in the past have included figures as diverse as Will Hutton, Maurice Glasman and Dominic Cummings. If a left-leaning coalition is in power after the next election, the Lib Dems could have considerable clout when this debate is being thrashed out again.<\/p>\n Still, dismantling the Treasuy won\u2019t be easy. In a good New Stateman article<\/a> on this topic last year, George Eaton quoted Harold Macmillan, the former Tory PM. Macmillan summed it up like this:<\/p>\n To reform the Treasury is like trying to reform the Kremlin or the Vatican. These institutions are apt to have the last laugh.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Nurses\u2019 families fear being torn apart in UK immigration crackdown, survey says<\/p>\n Families of nurses and carers have said they fear being torn apart under an immigration crackdown condemned as \u201can act of economic vandalism\u201d, Josh Halliday reports.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a005.29 EST<\/p>\n Cooper defends Lib Dem plans for windfall tax on banks<\/p>\n Q: You are here being hosted by UK Finance. But the financial services sector does not like your plans for a windfall tax on banks<\/a>. Have you dropped your support for that?<\/p>\n Cooper says the Lib Dems are still committed to that. She says it is justified because banks have made unexpected profits relating to the QE system. She accepts that banks are not happy about the plans. But the party is talking to them about that, she says. And, although the banks don\u2019t like the plan, they \u201cdo like what we\u2019re trying to do with it\u201d (measures to promote growth).<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Q: How would you justify the cost of such a big reorganisation?<\/p>\n Cooper said these plans were consistent with existing plans to move civil servants out of London.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Lib Dems say they would locate new growth deparment in Birmingham<\/p>\n Cooper said the Lib Dems would locate their new growth department in Birmingham.<\/p>\n She said this reflected the fact that the Lib Dems were a party representing seats all over the country.<\/p>\n We Liberal Democrats are the only political party with MPs that span from the Highlands and Islands of Scotland down to the tip of the southwest. So we know we see the differences in economic growth between the southeast and everywhere else.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Lib Dems call for ‘anti-growth Treasury’ to be split up, and replaced with big growth department, and smaller spending department<\/p>\n Cooper says that some people wanted the Treasury\u2019s powers to be tweaked, and others said the PM should have more power over economic policy.<\/p>\n But the Lib Dems were proposing a different plan, she said.<\/p>\n Today I can announce that we Liberal Democrats don\u2019t just want to get rid of this anti-growth chancellor. We want to get rid of this anti-growth Treasury.<\/p>\n And as part of our plan for government, we would break up the Treasury and replace it with a new, powerful, full Department for Growth, with a mandate to boost long-term prosperity, improve living standards and end the cost of living crisis.<\/p>\n The Department for Business and Trade would be merged into this new Growth Department, recognising the central role of British business in driving growth.<\/p>\n And a smaller Department for Public Expenditure would be set up to oversee department spending and ensure value for money.<\/p>\n This new Department for Growth would focus minds on what growth could help us achieve stronger economic growth.<\/p>\n Cooper said having a Department for Growth would force the government to focus properly on growth policies. And it would make parties contemplate pulling \u201cthe biggest growth lever\u201d, having a better trading relationship with the EU.<\/p>\n Daisy Cooper speaking at her Lib Dem press conference. Photograph: Jonathan Brady\/PAShare<\/a>Treasury has too much power, Cooper says<\/p>\n Cooper said one of Labour\u2019s problems was that it had been led by \u201cTreasury brain\u201d.<\/p>\n The winter fuel payment fiasco \u2013 a short-term Treasury tax grab driven by the desire for immediate bankable cuts.<\/p>\n The jobs tax \u2013 a short-term Treasury tax grab with no regard for the crushing impact on jobs, on growth or investment.<\/p>\n The family farm tax and the attack on family businesses \u2013 short-term Treasury tax grabs by the chancellor that could lead to some of the most resilient, long standing British businesses being broken up and sold off.<\/p>\n The list goes on.<\/p>\n But this isn\u2019t a new problem. For too long political parties without a vision for growth have allowed the Treasury tail to wag the political dog. And it must stop.<\/p>\n For decades, everyone has identified this as a problem. The Treasury does too much.<\/p>\n Cooper said parties had recognised this as a problem for decades.<\/p>\n The Treasury does too much: fiscal policy, economic policy, and controlling government spending.<\/p>\n In most other countries, these roles are split up. The Treasury enables governments to go for short-term tax grabs that suit political cycles over the need for long-term growth.<\/p>\n And the Treasury is disconnected from the real economy. Despite holding all the economic power, the Treasury isn\u2019t responsible for policies on business or trade. This leaves British businesses jumping through hoops.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Daisy Cooper opened her press conference, hosted by UK Finance, a trade group for the financial services sector, by saying the Lib Dems believe in talking up Britain.<\/p>\n But Britain is stuck in a doom loop, she said.<\/p>\n We have strong institutions. We have dynamic markets and universal public services. We have world leading universities, creative industries and life sciences. We are the third largest market for artificial intelligence, and we have awesome entrepreneurial people.<\/p>\n The United Kingdom is an amazing country and has enormous potential, but we can never take this for granted and we must accept that we are stuck in a rut, stuck in a doom loop of low economic growth, and that is a big problem.<\/p>\n Economic growth matters. We need to get Britain growing again to end the cost of living crisis. We need to get Britain growing again, to rebuild our public services. And we need to get Britain growing again, to invest in the climate transition and create the well-paid jobs.<\/p>\n Cooper said even Wes Streeting<\/a> says the government does not have a growth strategy.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper holds press conference<\/p>\n Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem deputy leader and Treasury spokesperson, is holding a press conference now. There is a live feed here.<\/p>\n Georgia Gould, an education minister, has been the government voice on the airwaves this morning.<\/p>\n In an interview with Sky News, she said that when No 10 announced that Matthew Doyle was being made a peer in December, it did not know that he had campaigned for someone who was subsequently convicted of paedophile offences.<\/p>\n Referring to Labour\u2019s decision to remove the whip from Doyle in the Lords yesterday, she said:<\/p>\n There\u2019s an investigation going on. We\u2019ll wait for that to conclude. But the prime minister said on Monday night that we want to ensure the highest standards in public life. He\u2019s gone back and looked at this appointment. He\u2019s taken action to withdraw the whip.<\/p>\n Asked whether the government was taking child abuse seriously enough, she replied:<\/p>\n We\u2019re taking it incredibly seriously.<\/p>\n And Keir Starmer is somebody who has spent his whole career putting people into prison, And this is his lifelong work. It is deeply important to him. And no one is harder on themselves than the prime minister. But he\u2019s clear that things need to change. Vetting has to be better.<\/p>\n Asked if the documents submitted as part of the vetting process for Doyle\u2019s peerage would be published, she referred to the ongoing investigation and said \u201cwe\u2019ll have more to say when that\u2019s completed\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Starmer faces PMQs amid pressure over why ex-No 10 aide friendly with sex offender was given peerage<\/p>\n Good morning. At PMQs last week Keir Starmer<\/a> had to face questions about a Labour peer with a paedophile friend. Today he seems likely to face questions about another peer in this category.<\/p>\n As Peter Walker reports, yesterday Labour<\/a> said it had removed the whip from Matthew Doyle, who only recently became a Labour peer, having previously served as Starmer\u2019s director of communications.<\/p>\n Doyle had campaigned for a friend who had been charged with possessing indecent images of children. The friend claimed he was innocent at the time, but subsequently pleaded guilty. Yesterday Doyle issued a lengthy statement<\/a> apologising.<\/p>\n Given that Doyle\u2019s peerage was announced in December, and that he took his seat in early January \u2013 after the details of his friendship with Sean Morton had been made public \u2013 Labour\u2019s decision to remove the whip yesterday looks like a move timed to minimise the dangers from this issue being raised at PMQs<\/a>.<\/p>\n But Starmer still faces questions about why Doyle was allowed to take his seat in the Lords in the first place. In a post on social media<\/a> last night, Kemi Badenoch said she would not let the matter drop.<\/p>\n Keir Starmer handed a peerage to Matthew Doyle despite knowing about his ongoing friendship with a man charged with child sex crimes.<\/p>\n The Prime Minister has now suspended the whip, but he must come clean about what he was told before making this appointment.<\/p>\n We won\u2019t let this go.<\/p>\n Last night Anna Turley, the Labour chair, said she did not think Doyle should be in the Lords at all. That was her \u201cpersonal view\u201d, she said. But Starmer is likely to be asked if he agrees.<\/p>\n Here is the agenda for the day.<\/p>\n 9am: Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem deputy leader and Treasury spokesperson holds a press conference where she is due to make \u201ca major Treasury announcement\u201d.<\/p>\n 9.45am: Dan Tomlinson, a Treasury minister, gives evidence to the Commons Treasury committee on business rates.<\/p>\n Noon: Keir Starmer faces Kemi Badenoch<\/a> at PMQs.<\/p>\n 1pm: Starmer speaks to the women\u2019s PLP (parliamentary Labour party).<\/p>\n 1.30pm: Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, gives evidence to the Commons energy committee.<\/p>\n And today Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, is publishing an education estates plan, including more space for classes for children with special educational needs.<\/a><\/p>\n If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (between 10am and 3pm), or message me on social media. I can\u2019t read all the messages BTL, but if you put \u201cAndrew\u201d in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.<\/p>\n If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X<\/a>, but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.<\/p>\n I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can\u2019t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.<\/p>\n![\"Liberal](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2560.jpg\")
Liberal Democrats deputy leader Daisy Cooper makes announcement \u2013 watch liveShare<\/a>Minister rejects suggestion Doyle’s appointment to Lords shows No 10 doesn’t take child abuse seriously<\/p>\n