The chief secretary to the Treasury is a ministerial office in the

government of the United Kingdom ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal coat of arms of t ...

. The office is the second most senior in the

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or in p ...

, after the

chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...

. The office was created in 1961, to share the burden of representing the Treasury with the chancellor. The minister is shadowed by the

shadow chief secretary to the Treasury The Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury is the most junior member of the Shadow Cabinet, and is the deputy to the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury acts as the primary opposition to the equivalent G ...

who sits on the Official Opposition frontbench.

History and responsibilities

Between 1961 and 2015, the holder of the office of Chief Secretary to the Treasury was of full

cabinet rank The ministerial ranking, Cabinet ranking, order of precedence in Cabinet or order of precedence of ministers is the "pecking order" or relative importance of senior ministers in the Government of the United Kingdom, UK government. Use The mi ...

. This formally made the HM Treasury the only

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

to have more than one ministerial position of cabinet rank. Since 2015, however, the status of the office has been reduced to "also attending Cabinet". The office holder is responsible for public expenditure, including spending reviews.

List of chief secretaries to the Treasury

References

{{Ministers at HM Treasury Ministerial offices in the United Kingdom Finance ministers of the United Kingdom 1961 establishments in the United Kingdom Lists of government ministers of the United Kingdom

History and responsibilities

List of chief secretaries to the Treasury

See also

References