Rachel Reeves Appoints Brexit Critic Emily Fry to Bolster Treasury Team

Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, has made a notable addition to her advisory team by hiring Emily Fry, a prominent economist with a history of criticising Brexit. Fry previously worked at the Resolution Foundation, a think tank recognised for its Left-leaning stance where she focused on trade and economic policy. Her arrival comes at a moment when Downing Street is ramping up analysis of the economic repercussions following the UK’s departure from the European Union.

During her tenure at the Resolution Foundation, Fry highlighted what she described as the economic shocks inflicted by Brexit. She remarked that the decision to leave the EU had resulted in poorer prospects for the UK and that policy could do more to improve the situation. In a widely noted interview, she stated, “While Brexit has made us poorer, it is not too late to make it work better for Britain.” A 2022 blog post co-authored by Fry argued that reduced openness would culminate in a less productive and ultimately poorer country by the end of the decade.

As ministers intensify efforts to attribute the nation’s fiscal challenges to Brexit, the new appointment signals a willingness to bring vocal critics of the EU separation into government circles. Reeves herself recently asserted during an official trip to Saudi Arabia that Brexit was a key factor behind Britain’s peer-leading inflation.

Fry’s recommendations for fiscal policy have also attracted attention. Ahead of the last Budget, she advocated for targeting those with the “broadest shoulders”—a phrase the Chancellor has now echoed in the lead-up to her own Budget. Fry suggested tax reforms focused on capital gains, inheritances, rental income, and even the treatment of pension contributions. She raised the prospect of revisiting inheritance tax, potentially impacting main residences, which currently enjoy generous exemptions when passed down to children or spouses.

Labour’s pipeline of policy advisers now features several alumni of the Resolution Foundation. Besides Fry, the Treasury recently named Dan Tomlinson—a former economist from the think tank—to lead tax policy. The appointment continues a pattern of integrating experts from research backgrounds into top economic roles, including the recent addition of David Sturrock from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, whose research covers wealth and intergenerational inequality.

With public debate intensifying on how to address the UK’s fiscal and economic challenges, the composition of Reeves’s advisory team will likely influence the direction of both short and long-term economic reforms. The focus on wealth distribution and post-Brexit recovery underlines the government’s intent to explore comprehensive changes in tax and economic policy.