Louise Haigh ‘advised Andy Burnham not to appoint Ed Miliband as chancellor’
Louise Haigh, a key ally of Labour’s Prime Minister in-waiting Andy Burnham, reportedly advised him not to appoint Ed Miliband […]
Louise Haigh, a key ally of Labour’s Prime Minister in-waiting Andy Burnham, reportedly advised him not to appoint Ed Miliband as chancellor, as the Westminster rumour mill on who Burnham will appoint to Number 11 goes into overdrive.
Burnham is all but guaranteed to move into Downing Street on Monday after 349 of the party’s MPs nominated him to replace Sir Keir Starmer. It is now mathematically impossible for a rival to run against him.
While Burnham has been busy setting out his vision for party and country, vowing to end factionalism, pledging to bring water and energy under public control and rewiring Britain by devolving powers out of Whitehall, questions still remain on who he will appoint to his cabinet, especially to the position of Chancellor.
It is a major decision Burnham is yet to undertake, and would signal both to Labour MPs and the markets what direction his administration will take.
Names in the frame include, Wes Streeting, Ed Miliband, Shabana Mahmood and Pat McFadden.
Union leaders and businesses have previously warned against appointing Miliband, expressing concerns over his net zero policies which union bosses say would damage workers while business leaders express fears over his ideological position.
Sharon Graham, General Secretary of Unite, had warned Burnham not to make Miliband chancellor, saying that Britain needs a chancellor that doesn’t decimate industry.
Now Bloomberg reports that Lou Haigh, Andy Burnham’s top aide, advised him ‘not to appoint Ed Miliband as chancellor, according to five people familiar with conversations in Burnham’s team’.
It adds that ‘Anneliese Midgley, another close Burnham adviser, was also opposed to Miliband as chancellor, say two of the people. The opposition from Burnham’s inner circle means Shabana Mahmood is now expected to get the job.’
The disagreement over Miliband is said to have occurred because Haigh, Midgley and Burnham are said not to see eye to with him on net zero and also because they have close union links.
Haigh is the person standing in the way of “chaos with Ed Miliband,” a Burnham supporter says.
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