Former Labour leader Ed Miliband unveils Labour’s pledges carved into stone (Image: PA)
One of Keir Starmer’s new Treasury ministers is a high-tax leftwinger who reportedly came up with the widely-mocked “Ed Stone”.
with Emma Reynolds but also brought newly-elected Labour MP Torsten Bell into the under-fire department.
Mr Bell previously advised Ed Miliband and was the boss of the left-leaning Resolution Foundation think tank before his election six months ago.
He was said to be the architect of the idea for the infamous “Ed Stone” which led to the then-Labour leader being ridiculed.
The 8ft limestone slab, which was compared to a headstone, had Labour’s six pledges carved into it during the 2015 election.
Torsten Bell has been promoted by Keir Starmer (Image: Parliament)
Mr Bell, whose twin brother Olaf Henricson-Bell was recently appointed as the new head of the No 10 policy unit, also made the argument for a number of tax-hiking measures during his time at the Resolution Foundation.
Conservative MP John Cooper said Mr Bell’s appointment rang the “alarm bell” as he “heard him say this the other day: ‘Does the Chief Secretary agree that one of the lessons from global developments in recent days is that we must pay for day-to-day public spending through tax rises, however tough that is?’”
William Yarwood of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “Everyone focusing on Tulip Siddiq will miss out that high tax fanatic Torsten Bell is now in the Treasury.
“He’s in favour of the employers’ National Insurance hike, the family farms tax, and wants to make you pay Capital Gains Tax when you die.
“He’ll fit right in with Reeves.”