Lib Dems would scrap Treasury for ‘Department for Growth’
The Liberal Democrats have laid out plans to scrap the Treasury department if elected in favour of a ‘Department for Growth’.
Daisy Cooper, the party’s deputy leader and Treasury spokeswoman, said on Wednesday took aim at failed government economic policy and said the Treasury “does too much”.
“Fiscal policy, economic policy and controlling government spending. In most other countries, these roles are split up,” Cooper said.
“The Treasury enables governments to go for short-term tax grabs that suit political cycles over the need for long-term growth.“
The press conference, hosted by financial services’ trade group UK Finance, marks one of the Liberal Democrats first major policy announcement since the election.
The Hertfordshire MP faced questions over the event being hosted with banking industry, despite the party being supportive of a windfall tax on the sector.
Cooper said the party was engaging with lenders, and claimed whilst they didn’t like the plan they “do like we’re trying to do with it”.
All fiscal roads lead to Birmingham
Cooper said the new department would be based in Birmingham with the Department for Business and Trade also folded in.
On the location, Cooper said it would close UK’s second-biggest city’s productivity gap with the Capital and add around £12bn a year to the economy.
The party would also set up a “smaller Department for Public Expenditure” to oversee department spending and “ensure value for money”.
“We Liberal Democrats don’t just want to get rid of this anti-growth Chancellor. We want to get rid of this anti-growth Treasury,” Cooper said.
When press on costs Cooper responded: “We don’t anticipate in any cuts”.
She argued a Department for Growth would encourage focus be centrally on growth policies and would also make parties look to pull “the biggest growth lever”.
Cooper added it could boost UK-EU relations, raise “around £25bn a year to fix public services and the cost of living crisis”, and reset the relationship between the government and business.
During the speech, the Lib Dem deputy leader took a jap at the tensions in government as she recalled Wes Streeting’s criticism of the government’s growth agenda.
In an exchange with disgraced Labour veteran Peter Mandelson, the latter told Streeting in March 2025: “The Government doesn’t have an economic philosophy which is then followed through in a programme of policies.”
Streeting replied: “No growth strategy at all.”
The health secretary has faced accusations in numerous reports of trying to replace Prime Minister Keir Starmer amidst controversy at the top of government.
Starmer’s leadership has been engulfed in scandal following the latest drop of the Epstein files, which raised questions on the appointment of Mandelson to US Ambassador due to his ties to the convicted sex offender.