Kitty Ussher

Katharine Anne Ussher (born 18 March 1971) is a British economist and former politician who is the chief economist at the Institute of Directors. She was previously a Labour Party MP and Treasury minister, and later Chief Executive of the Demos think tank.[1] She is also a Non Executive Director with the UK subsidiary of the fintech Revolut, and also at the local authority pension pooling company, London CIV.[2]

Kitty Ussher
Ussher in 2009
Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury
In office
9 June 2009 – 17 June 2009
Prime MinisterGordon Brown
Preceded byAngela Eagle
Succeeded bySarah McCarthy-Fry
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
In office
5 October 2008 – 9 June 2009
Prime MinisterGordon Brown
Preceded byJames Plaskitt
Succeeded byHelen Goodman
Economic Secretary to the Treasury
In office
29 June 2007 – 5 October 2008
Prime MinisterGordon Brown
Preceded byEd Balls
Succeeded byIan Pearson
Member of Parliament
for Burnley
In office
5 May 2005 – 12 April 2010
Preceded byPeter Pike
Succeeded byGordon Birtwistle
Personal details
Born
Katharine Anne Ussher

(1971-03-18) 18 March 1971
Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England
Political partyLabour
SpousePeter J Colley
Children1 son, 1 daughter
RelativesPeter Bottomley (uncle)
Virginia Bottomley (aunt-in-law)
Alma materBalliol College, Oxford, Birkbeck, University of London

After training as an economist and working as a macroeconomic forecaster at the Economist Intelligence Unit,[3] she was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Burnley at the 2005 general election, succeeding Peter Pike. Seen as a high flier, she went on to serve as a minister in Gordon Brown's government from 2007 to 2009, mainly at the Treasury, but also at the Department for Work and Pensions, having previously been a Special Advisor at the Department for Trade and Industry.[3] At the time she was the second-youngest government minister, and the youngest woman.

Ussher resigned from her ministerial role in 2009 following her involvement in the United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal in which it was reported she had taken action on the advice of her accountants to reduce her capital gains tax liability.[4] She did not stand at the 2010 election, citing the desire for a more normal family life while her children were young.[5][6][7] Since then, she has worked primarily in public policy thought leadership, at Demos, as Managing Director of Tooley Street Research, [3] and at the Institute of Directors. In August 2021, she predicted that unemployment would not rise when the coronavirus furlough scheme ended at the end of the following month.[8] At the time this was out of step with most economic forecasts; however, when the official ONS data were released four months later, her prediction was shown to be correct.[9] In September 2023 she was the only one out of nine members of The Times shadow monetary policy committee to correctly anticipate the Bank of England's decision that month to hold interest rates at 5.25% after 14 consecutive rate rises.[10]

Biography

Ussher is the daughter of an Anglo-Irish lawyer father and a headmistress mother whose brother is Conservative MP, Peter Bottomley.[11] Consequently, she is a niece-in-law of former Conservative cabinet minister Virginia Bottomley, and a granddaughter of the diplomat Sir James Bottomley. She is also distantly descended from the family of Archbishop James Ussher.

Ussher was educated on a free place at the independent St Paul's Girls' School; she subsequently attended Balliol College, Oxford, where she read PPE, and Birkbeck College, London, where she took an MSc in Economics.

Early career

In her early career, she was chief economist for Britain in Europe, and an economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit and the Centre for European Reform, as well as working for MPs Paul Boateng, Martin O'Neill, Kim Howells and Adam Ingram.

From 1998 to 2002, she also served as a councillor for Vassall ward in the London Borough of Lambeth, where she chaired the Council's Finance and Environment Scrutiny Committees. From 2001, until her selection as a parliamentary candidate in February 2004, she was special adviser to Patricia Hewitt at the Department of Trade and Industry.

Parliamentary career

Ussher was elected as the member of Parliament for Burnley at the 2005 general election, having been selected through an All-Women Shortlist as the constituency's Labour candidate.[12] The new intake of MPs was called the brightest for a generation.[13]

From 2005 to 2006, Ussher was a member of the Public Accounts Committee. She was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Margaret Hodge, the Minister of State at the Department of Trade and Industry, until 29 June 2007.

In Gordon Brown's first reshuffle, she was appointed as City Minister, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, succeeding Ed Balls. The timing of her appointment, as the first signs of the credit crunch appeared, meant that she was party to crucial meetings of the Tripartite Committee of Treasury, FSA and the Bank of England as the authorities dealt with the collapse of Northern Rock, the subsequent financial crisis and its legislative response. She chaired the Treasury Islamic Finance Group,[14] leading to the issuance of the first sukuk government bond, co-chaired with Hector Sants the official High-Level Working Group on the efficiency of the UK capital-raising process,[15] and co-chaired with Sir Michael Snyder the High-Level Working Group on the professional services sector.[16][17]

Her period in office also saw a review of the policy towards co-operatives and credit unions, to give them greater commercial freedom and ability to expand. She also developed the policy leading to the Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Act 2008 that redistributes unclaimed banking assets to community use, and the Savings Gateway Act 2009 that provides financial incentives to poorer people to save.

On 5 October 2008, she moved to become Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions, taking on broad welfare reform responsibilities previously undertaken by Stephen Timms and James Plaskitt. At the time of the reshuffle, she was described by Martin Waller, city diarist of The Times, as "one of the brighter denizens of the lower depths of the Brown administration" who had "made herself popular enough in the City".[18]

She became responsible for the government's review of housing benefit policy and a review of the social fund, as well as the Child Support Agency and welfare policy on lone parents. Ussher made London her permanent home in April 2009, moving to Brixton, so she could send her children to school in Westminster.[19]

In the June 2009 reshuffle, she was moved back to the Treasury, this time promoted to Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, but ten days later resigned to prevent embarrassment to the government regarding her tax position, and was replaced by Sarah McCarthy-Fry, the MP for Portsmouth North.

Expenses controversy
Main article: United Kingdom Parliamentary expenses scandal

On 10 May 2009 the Sunday Telegraph reported that within a year of being elected, Ussher was inquiring about claiming for around £20,000 worth of renovations to her London home, a property she had owned for several years before becoming an MP. In her claims she stated: "The plumbing in the entire house is strange [...] The electrics are also odd [...] Most of the ceilings have Artex coverings. Three-dimensional swirls. It could be a matter of taste, but this counts as 'dilapidations' in my book!" A letter produced by the Telegraph include a covering "With Compliments" slip stating "I am aware this takes us over our limit. Please pay as much as you are able".[20]

The following month, Ussher resigned, citing a desire to "prevent embarrassment to the government" after allegations that she also temporarily changed the designation of her "main" home for tax purposes to reduce her tax bill.[21] Ussher's main home was in London, but in order to reduce her capital gains tax bill by £3,420 she temporarily designated her Burnley house as the main residence for one month while it was sold. A letter from her accountants concerning the matter was also hidden from the published official version of her office expenses file published online.[22]

In her resignation letter, Ussher claimed that she had done nothing wrong and that her actions were "in line with HM Revenue and Customs guidance and based on the advice of a reputable firm of accountants who in turn were recommended to me by the House of Commons fees office". She also denied any abuse of the allowances system of the House of Commons.[23] Four years later in an article on her blog, she said she had nevertheless voluntarily paid the amount in question to HMRC, stating that "Public servants should always be at pains to ensure that they are not only compliant with the letter of the law but also with the spirit of it, and I did not focus on that."[24]

At the same time, Ussher announced that she would not contest the next election, citing the difficulties in reconciling her parental responsibilities with the working hours of Parliament, stating that this decision had preceded the expenses controversy.[25] Commenting on her resignation, the BBC described her as a "rising star" who had risen quickly through the ranks, despite only being elected in 2005.[26]

An investigation by Sir Thomas Legg into MPs' claims found that Ussher had breached the retrospectively-applied £11,000 limit for building work in her kitchen and ordered her to repay £1,271.65. Her appeal against the ruling, on the grounds that the limit was not in place at the time the expenses were incurred, was rejected as being outside the scope of the terms of enquiry of Sir Thomas Legg's investigation.[27]

Later career

In May 2010, after leaving Parliament, Ussher became the new Chief Executive of Demos, remaining in that post until 2012.[3] She then became a research fellow of the Smith Institute,[28] an associate at the Centre for London, a member of TheCityUK's Independent Economists' Panel, and a co founder of Labour in the City.

In December 2013, she became Managing Director of Tooley Street Research, and economic and policy adviser to Portland Communications.[29][30] She has also written pamphlets for the Fabian Society, the Social Market Foundation and Policy Network and for the Financial Times.[31]

In February 2015, she joined the Financial Services Consumer Panel, a scrutiny panel for the Financial Conduct Authority regulator. Between 2017 and 2019 she spent two years working as an inner city maths teacher, as part of the inaugural cohort of Now Teach, a scheme to encourage older professionals to switch careers into teaching, stating in her blog that she "thought she should do something useful".[32]

In September 2021, Kitty Ussher was appointed chief economist at the Institute of Directors.[33]

Personal life

Ussher married accountant Peter J. Colley in September 1999 in Hammersmith;[11] they have one daughter Elizabeth (born 7 June 2005)[34] and a son George (born 3 January 2008).[35]

Publications
  • The Economic Cost of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in the UK, Demos 2021
  • Everyday Places: Creating strong locations to support daily life in Britain, Demos 2021
  • Post Pandemic Places, Demos 2021
  • Potential Limited: The economic cost of uncontrolled asthma, Demos 2020
  • Patient Power: Unleashing choice over routine medications, Demos 2020
  • The economic cost of inflammatory bowel disease, Demos, 2021
  • Everyday places: creating strong locations to support daily life in Britain, Demos, 2021
  • Post pandemic places, Demos, 2021
  • Potential limited: the economic cost of uncontrolled asthma, Demos, 2020
  • The Learning Curve (co-author), Demos, 2020
  • Patient power: unleashing choice over routine medications, Demos 2020
  • Improving pay, progression and productivity in the retail sector, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2016
  • Pay progression: Understanding the barriers for the lowest paid. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, 2014
  • Wealth of our nation: rethinking policies for wealth distribution. The Smith Institute, 2014
  • Good Growth: A Demos and PWC report on economic wellbeing. Demos, 2011
  • City Limits: The progressive case for financial services reform. Demos, 2011
  • Labour's Record on the Economy. The Political Quarterly, 2010

References
  1. "Kitty Ussher". Demos. Archived from the original on 28 February 2020. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  2. "Kitty USSHER personal appointments - Find and update company information - GOV.UK".
  3. "Kitty Ussher : Chief Economist, Institute of Directors". LinkedIn. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  4. "MPs' expenses: Kitty Ussher sacked from government over her claims". The Guardian. 17 June 2009. Archived from the original on 21 October 2015. Retrieved 17 June 2009.
  5. "Planning a life after Westminster". BBC News. 4 May 2010. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  6. "Why I'm putting my family before Parliament | News". This Is London. Archived from the original on 27 June 2009. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
  7. Ussher, Kitty (15 July 2014). "Cabinet reshuffle: Parenting in Parliament is tough for women (And I should know)". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 18 February 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  8. Ussher, Kitty [@kittyussher] (17 August 2021). "Putting it out there - in contrast to dire earlier predictions, I say unemployment will not go up when furlough ends in September. Why? Because on the whole people are not sitting around on furlough. Here's what people say when you ask them, updated with today's ONS figures" (Tweet). Retrieved 17 January 2022 – via Twitter.
  9. "Labour market overview, UK". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  10. Correspondent, Jack Barnett, Economics (25 September 2023). "Quarter point rise will be right move, says Times shadow MPC". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 26 September 2023.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. "She fought for the euro; now one of Brown's stars will be the City's champion". EMAG/The Times. 9 July 2007. Archived from the original on 4 October 2011. Retrieved 18 June 2009.
  12. "All-women shortlists" (PDF). House of Commons Library. 7 January 2016. p. 29. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 May 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
  13. "Class of 2005". The Guardian. 1 October 2005. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  14. "Mondo Visione - Worldwide Exchange Intelligence". mondovisione.com. Archived from the original on 18 July 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  15. Hector Sants
  16. "Government launches new group to boost UK competitiveness". Moneymarketing. 1 July 2008. Archived from the original on 14 February 2021. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  17. New Government Industry Group Champions Professional Services, September 2008
  18. Waller, Martin (7 October 2008). "Smalltown America counters the credit crunch". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  19. "Burnley MP to move family to London". thisislancashire.co.uk. 2 April 2009. Archived from the original on 8 March 2017. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  20. "MPs' expenses: minister Kitty Ussher used allowances for £20,000 house make-over". The Daily Telegraph. London. 9 May 2009. Archived from the original on 29 May 2010. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  21. "Minister quits over her expenses". BBC News. 18 June 2009. Archived from the original on 21 August 2017. Retrieved 18 June 2008.
  22. "MPs' expenses: Kitty Ussher's £17,000 tax dodge would have remained hidden". The Telegraph. 19 June 2009. Archived from the original on 8 February 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  23. "MPs' expenses: Kitty Ussher's resignation letter". The Daily Telegraph. London. 17 June 2009. Archived from the original on 27 October 2010. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  24. Kitty Ussher (18 June 2013). "Reflections on a resignation". Archived from the original on 27 June 2013. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
  25. "Why I'm putting my family before Parliament | News". Thisislondon.co.uk. Archived from the original on 27 June 2009. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
  26. "Minister quits over home tax move". BBC News. 17 June 2009. Archived from the original on 21 August 2017. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  27. "Burnley MP Kitty Ussher pays back £1,271 in expenses row". Burnley Express. 5 February 2010. Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
  28. "Smith Institute People". Smith Institute. 21 June 2012. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  29. "Our team: Kitty Ussher". Tooley Street Research. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  30. John Owens (6 March 2013). "Portland hires former Treasury minister Kitty Ussher". PR Week. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  31. "Kitty Ussher | Financial Times". www.ft.com. Archived from the original on 1 November 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  32. "Signing off... So, it's official. I'm going to be a maths teacher. Training on the job through the wonderful Lucy Kellaway's new scheme called Now Teach, in partnership with Ark". Archived from the original on 8 August 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  33. "IoD appoints Kitty Ussher as new Chief Economist | Institute of Directors | IoD". Iod.com. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  34. "Burnley & Pendle Citizen – the local newspaper for our community – Kitty's Baby". BurnleyCitizen.co.uk. 8 June 2005. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
  35. "Burnley & Pendle Citizen – the local newspaper for our community – Kitty celebrates birth of second child". BurnleyCitizen.co.uk. 4 January 2008. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
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