Economic Secretary to the Treasury

Ed Balls MP was appointed Economic Secretary to the Treasury on 5 May 2006. He has been a Member of Parliament for Normanton since 2005.

Mr. Balls was born in 1967 and educated at Nottingham High School; Keble College, Oxford; and the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard.

Mr. Balls was a teaching fellow Department of Economics, Harvard 1989-90; and an Economics Leader writer and columnist for the Financial Times 1990-94.

He was Economic Adviser to the then Shadow Chancellor Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP 1994-97; Secretary Labour Party Economic Policy Commission 1994-97; Economic Adviser to the Chancellor of the Exchequer 1997-99; Chief Economic Adviser to the HM Treasury 1999-2004; and Research Fellow, Smith Institute 2004-05.

Ed Balls has had a number of publications including ‘Towards a new Regional Policy’ and ‘Reforming Britain’s economic and financial policy: towards greater economic stability’ and ‘Microeconomic Reform in Britain: Delivering Oppurtunties for All’. Mr. Balls is a member of the TGWU, Unison and the Co-operative Party.

Mr. Balls is married to Yvette Cooper MP and has three children. Outside work Mr. Balls interests include playing the violin and football with his children.