Kitty Ussher

Katharine Anne Ussher (born 18 March 1971) is a British economist, former Labour Party MP and Treasury minister, and former Chief Executive of the Demos think tank, who is now chief economist at the Institute of Directors. 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.

After training as an economist and working as a macroeconomic forecaster at the Economist Intelligence Unit, 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. 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. She did not stand at the 2010 election, citing the desire for a more normal family life while her children were young. Since then, she has worked primarily in public policy thought leadership, at Demos, as Managing Director of Tooley Street Research, 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. 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.

Biography

Ussher is the daughter of an Anglo-Irish lawyer father and a headmistress mother whose brother is Conservative MP, Peter Bottomley. 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. The new intake of MPs was called the brightest for a generation.

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, 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, and co-chaired with Sir Michael Snyder the High-Level Working Group on the professional services sector.

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".

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.

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

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".

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. 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.

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. 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."

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. Commenting on her resignation, the BBC
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