UK prime minister Boris Johnson continues to cause a stir in politics with his cabinet’s strategy on Brexit causing Amber Rudd to resign as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
She has been replaced by Thérèse Coffey, who will now head up the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
The former secretary of state said she resigned over Johnson’s lack of Brexit negotiations with the EU.
“The government is expending a lot of energy to prepare for ‘no deal’ but I have not seen the same level of intensity go into our talks with the European Union, who have asked us to present alternative arrangements to the Irish backstop,” Rudd said in her resignation letter.
Laughable and lamentable statistic
The financial services industry has reacted to the departure of Rudd, after welcoming some consistency when Johnson kept her in the position during his cabinet reshuffle in July.
“The news that Amber Rudd has resigned from the cabinet means that we will soon be hailing in our seventh work and pensions secretary since 2016, which is both a laughable and lamentable statistic,” said Jon Greer, head of retirement policy at Quilter.
“Since Iain Duncan Smith left the role after six years in March 2016, we have seen a string of politicians come and go from the coveted cabinet role.
“It’s simply impossible for the public to have faith in any enacted policy when the leadership of the department chops and changes so frequently.
“The only hope is that the next minister stays for more than one calendar year.”
Greer added that Coffey is inheriting a “poisoned chalice”, which will “potentially be even more toxic than the one Amber Rudd was presented with, thanks to a whole host of pressing problems”.
Projects
And it seems that Coffey will have a lot to take on and improve.
“There will be a lot of large projects in Therese Coffey’s in-tray including the pensions dashboard and pension scams that are not progressing as quickly as they should,” said Helen Morrissey, pension specialist at Royal London.
“While she will need time to get to grips with her new brief, we urge her to progress these as quickly as possible.”
Charlie Musson, head of PR at AJ Bell, said: “There are some pressing issues that need urgent attention such as the long term policy on state pension uprating for EU expats, pension dashboard project, annual allowance taper and pension options for self-employed workers.”
Steven Cameron, director of pensions at Aegon, added: “We hope this means we’ll see no more delays from Therese Coffey on important priorities including pension dashboards and ‘default’ pensions for the self-employed.
“DWP also needs to work urgently with Treasury on key pensions tax issues including making sure non-tax payers all get the pension tax relief they are entitled to.
“And we also need an urgent review of annual and lifetime allowances to avoid the ridiculous situation which sees higher paid NHS professionals giving up work to avoid big tax bills on pension contributions.”
