Keironomics marks start of Whitehall reshaping of state

The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, was the still point of the turning world in cabinet but, around her, economic and social policy is shifting.

- Rachel Sylvester

The recent appointment of Minouche Shafik, the former deputy governor of the Bank of England, as the prime minister’s economics adviser, and the promotion of Torsten Bell, the former chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, to lead the budget preparations are a sign of an emerging “Keironomics” that could lead to a gradual reshaping of the state.

Both Shafik and Bell have called for a significant rebalancing to put a greater focus on intergenerational fairness and better align taxes on income and assets. The influence of the Resolution Foundation, a think-tank that focuses on low earners, is increasingly clear across Whitehall.

Dan Tomlinson, now a Treasury minister, Vidhya Alakeson, Starmer’s deputy chief of staff, and Matthew Pennycook, the housing minister, all worked for it before joining the government.