The House of Commons Treasury Committee (often referred to as the Treasury Select Committee) is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The committee is responsible for examining and scrutinizing the expenditure, administration and policy of HM Treasury. This includes its agencies and associated bodies, including HM Revenue and Customs, the Bank of England, the Prudential Regulation Authority, the Financial Conduct Authority, and the Royal Mint.
The current chair of the Treasury Select Committee is Dame Meg Hillier MP, from the Labour Party.[1] The position of chair is considered influential, as the holder of the office can scrutinize figures including the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Governor of the Bank of England, as well as bank executives.[2]
The select committee was established in 1979 as the Treasury and Civil Service Committee.[3] Since 2010, the Treasury Committee has taken on new powers, including the right to veto appointments to the independent Office for Budget Responsibility, and has forced the Financial Services Authority to publish a detailed report into its handling of the collapse of Royal Bank of Scotland.[4]
The select committee has been described as an influential one within British politics.[5][6][2] In 2016, the committee was described as among the three most powerful select committees in the House of Commons, along with the Public Accounts Committee and the Culture, Media and Sport Committee.[7]
On 1 February 2019, the Treasury Committee launched an inquiry looking into the impact of business rates and any unfairness in the system of rateable valuation operated by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA). The inquiry heard evidence from many businesses and trade organisations.[8] The findings of this inquiry outlined that the service was broken and public confidence had been eroded. In its reply to the inquiry, February 2020, the Government promised to make changes to business rates as part of a fundamental review of the VOA.[9]
Membership of the committee is as follows:[10]
| Date | Outgoing Member & Party |
Constituency | → | New Member & Party |
Constituency | Source | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 December 2024 | Lucy Rigby MP (Labour) | Northampton North | → | John Grady MP (Labour) | Glasgow East | Hansard | ||
The chair was elected on 27 January 2020, with the members of the committee being announced on 2 March 2020.[11][12]
The chair was elected on 12 July 2017, with the members of the committee being announced on 11 September 2017.[14][15]
| Date | Outgoing member and party |
Constituency | → | New member and party |
Constituency | Source | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 February 2018 | Kit Malthouse MP (Conservative) | North West Hampshire | → | Simon Clarke MP (Conservative) | Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland | Hansard | ||
| 29 October 2018 | Alister Jack MP (Conservative) | Dumfries and Galloway | → | Colin Clark MP (Conservative) | Gordon | Hansard | ||
| 3 December 2018 | Stephen Hammond MP (Conservative) | Wimbledon | → | Steve Baker MP (Conservative) | Wycombe | Hansard | ||
| 10 June 2019 | Stewart Hosie MP (SNP) | Dundee East | → | Alison Thewliss MP (SNP) | Glasgow Central | Hansard | ||
| 25 July 2019 | Nicky Morgan MP (Conservative) | Loughborough | → | Vacant | Hansard | |||
| 23 October 2019 | Vacant | → | Mel Stride MP (Conservative) | Central Devon | Hansard | |||
The chair was elected on 18 June 2015, with members being announced on 8 July 2015.[16][17]
| Date | Outgoing member and party |
Constituency | → | New member and party |
Constituency | Source | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 October 2015 | Bill Esterson MP (Labour) | Sefton Central | → | Rachel Reeves MP (Labour) | Leeds West | Hansard | ||
| 31 October 2016 | Mark Garnier MP (Conservative) | Wyre Forest | → | Kit Malthouse MP (Conservative) | North West Hampshire | Hansard | ||
The chair was elected on 10 June 2010, with members being announced on 12 July 2010.[18][19]
| Chair | Party | Constituency | First elected | Method | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meg Hillier | Labour and Co-op | Hackney South and Shoreditch | 9 September 2024 | Elected by the House of Commons[20] | |
| Harriett Baldwin | Conservative | West Worcestershire | 9 November 2022 | Elected by the House of Commons[21] | |
| Mel Stride | Conservative | Central Devon | 23 October 2019 | Elected by the House of Commons[22] | |
| Nicky Morgan | Conservative | Loughborough | 12 July 2017 | Elected by the House of Commons[23] | |
| Andrew Tyrie | Conservative | Chichester | 10 June 2010 | Elected by the House of Commons | |
| John McFall | Labour Co-op | West Dunbartonshire (Dumbarton 1987–2005) |
18 July 2001 | Elected by the select committee[24] | |
| Giles Radice | Labour | North Durham | 17 July 1997 | Elected by the select committee | |
From June 2010 chairs of select committees have been directly elected by a secret ballot of the whole House of Commons using the alternative vote system. Candidates with the fewest votes are eliminated and their votes redistributed until one remaining candidate has more than half of valid votes.[25] Elections are held at the beginning of a parliament or in the event of a vacancy.[26]
| 9 September 2024[27] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | 1st round | ||
| Votes | % | ||
| Meg Hillier | Unopposed | ||
| Not redistributed | |||
| Valid votes | |||
| 9 November 2024[28] | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | 1st round | 2nd round | 3rd round | 4th round | |||||||
| Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | ||||
| Harriett Baldwin | 156 | 39.3 | 169 | 42.9 | 182 | 46.7 | 204 | 54.4 | |||
| Andrea Leadsom | 106 | 26.7 | 114 | 28.9 | 141 | 36.2 | 171 | 45.6 | |||
| John Baron | 55 | 13.9 | 61 | 15.5 | 67 | 17.2 | Eliminated | ||||
| Kit Malthouse | 46 | 11.6 | 50 | 12.7 | Eliminated | ||||||
| Richard Fuller | 34 | 8.6 | Eliminated | ||||||||
| Not redistributed | 3 | 0.8 | 7 | 1.8 | 22 | 5.5 | |||||
| Valid votes | 397 | 394 | 390 | 375 | |||||||
| 29 January 2020[29] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | 1st round | ||
| Votes | % | ||
| Mel Stride | Unopposed | ||
| Not redistributed | |||
| Valid votes | |||
| 23 October 2019[30] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | First round | Second round | |||
| Votes | % | Votes | % | ||
| Mel Stride | 237 | 46.4 | 263 | 52.1 | |
| Kevin Hollinrake | 166 | 32.5 | 175 | 34.7 | |
| Harriett Baldwin | 62 | 12.1 | 67 | 13.3 | |
| Mark Garnier | 46 | 9.0 | Eliminated | ||
| Not redistributed | 6 | 1.2 | |||
| Valid votes | 511 | 505 | |||
| 12 July 2017[31] | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | 1st round | 2nd round | 3rd round | 4th round | 5th round | ||||||
| Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | ||
| Nicky Morgan | 200 | 35.1 | 207 | 36.4 | 227 | 40.5 | 254 | 46.4 | 290 | 56.2 | |
| Jacob Rees-Mogg | 136 | 23.9 | 141 | 24.8 | 160 | 28.6 | 179 | 32.7 | 226 | 43.8 | |
| Charlie Elphicke | 74 | 13.0 | 82 | 14.4 | 98 | 17.5 | 114 | 20.8 | Eliminated | ||
| Richard Bacon | 65 | 11.4 | 71 | 12.5 | 75 | 13.4 | Eliminated | ||||
| John Penrose | 63 | 11.1 | 68 | 12.0 | Eliminated | ||||||
| Stephen Hammond | 32 | 5.6 | Eliminated | ||||||||
| Not redistributed | 1 | 0.2 | 10 | 1.8 | 23 | 4.0 | 54 | 9.5 | |||
| Valid votes | 570 | 569 | 560 | 547 | 516 | ||||||
| 17 June 2015[32] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | 1st round | ||
| Votes | % | ||
| Andrew Tyrie | Unopposed | ||
| Not redistributed | |||
| Valid votes | |||
| 9 June 2010[33] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | 1st round | ||
| Votes | % | ||
| Andrew Tyrie | 352 | 61.6 | |
| Michael Fallon | 219 | 38.4 | |
| Not redistributed | |||
| Valid votes | 571 | ||
