Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP

The Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP

Contents

Biography

Elizabeth Truss was appointed Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 11 June 2017. She was elected as the Conservative MP for south west Norfolk in 2010.

Education

Elizabeth studied philosophy, politics and economics at Merton College, Oxford.

Political career

Elizabeth entered Parliament in 2010. She was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Education and Childcare in September 2012. Elizabeth served as the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from July 2014 until July 2016.
She was Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice from July 2016 until June 2017.

Career outside politics

Elizabeth was previously Deputy Director at Reform. She also worked in the energy and telecommunications industry for 10 years as a commercial manager and economics director, and is a qualified management accountant.

Personal life

Elizabeth is married with 2 children.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The Chief Secretary (CST) is responsible for:

  • public expenditure, including:
    • spending reviews and strategic planning
    • in-year spending control
    • public sector pay and pensions
    • Annually Managed Expenditure (AME) and welfare reform
    • efficiency and value for money in public service
    • procurement
    • capital investment
    • infrastructure spending
    • housing and planning
    • spending issues related to trade
    • transport policy, including HS2, Crossrail 2, Roads, Network Rail, Oxford/Cambridge corridor
    • Treasury interest in devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
  • women in the economy
  • childcare policy, including tax free childcare
  • tax credits policy
  • labour market policy

The Chief Secretary should be engaged on all issues of public spending.

More about this role

HM Treasury

Previous roles in government

  1. Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice

    • 2016 to 2017

  2. Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    • 2014 to 2016

  3. Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Education and Childcare

    • 2012 to 2014

Announcements

Subscriptions

  1. Promoting the UK as an investment destination
    • News story
  2. Life-changing tech industries and fabulous foods of Somerset are key to the UK economy, says Liz Truss
    • Press release
  3. Scottish Secretary welcomes Moray Growth Deal milestone
    • News story
  4. “Enterprise and entrepreneurship is transforming the Scottish economy”, says Liz Truss
    • News story
  5. Market Millennials: Speech by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury at the Cato Institute
    • Speech
  6. "Bound together by a shared belief in liberty": Liz Truss reaffirms UK and US economic relationship
    • News story
  7. Exports worth toasting: from Colombia to Cameroon, the East Midlands on track for record export year, says Liz Truss
    • News story
  8. Liz Truss: Selling Bedfordshire naan bread to India is the ultimate embodiment of global Britain
    • News story
  9. Chief Secretary heralds beer exports from Bungay, Suffolk, all the way to Brazil
    • News story
  10. £700 million South West food exports are vital to economic success
    • News story
View all announcements