Former Public Accounts Committee chair Dame Meg Hillier has been appointed to lead the Treasury Committee.
Hillier, who chaired PAC for nine years, is among a handful of MPs who ran unopposed to lead select committees in this month’s elections, which were triggered by the July general election. She is one of eight chairs to be confirmed so far, all of whom have run unopposed.
She succeeds Mel Stride, the former chief secretary to the Treasury who has led the committee since October 2019. Stride is now shadow work and pensions secretary.
The Labour MP said it is a “privilege” to become chair of the Treasury Committee and promised to work “day-in and day-out” to ensure the Treasury and its affiliated public bodies “are managing the public finances in the best interests of the British public”.
“During my nine-year tenure leading the Public Accounts Committee, I learned a thing or two about the mistakes governments can make with taxpayers’ money,” she said.
“I look forward to working with my fellow MPs to scrutinise the actions of this country’s most prominent financial institutions over the course of the next parliament,” she added.
Speaking to CSW this summer about her time on PAC, Hillier said her biggest bugbear as a select committee chair is "when you’re not getting a straight answer from a witness".
“It’s frustrating because we’ve done the work, they’ve done the work. Sometimes there’s a reason, they can’t stray into policy [...] and we recognise they’ve got to reflect ministers’ views up to a point. But actually, they have a direct responsibility as an accounting officer to parliament through us. So when we ask for something, we just expect to get it," she said.
Layla Moran has meanwhile been confirmed as chair of the Health and Social Care Committee. She succeeds Steve Brine, who has led the committee since November 2022.
The Labour MP said the role of the committee as a “critical friend of the government” had never been more important due to challenges including waiting lists, pressure on doctors and nurses, and “far too many elderly people trapped in hospitals without a care plan”.
“From social care to dentistry, and waiting lists to the workforce crisis, it has never been more pressing to find common ground across the political spectrum and I look forward to running a committee that champions the voice of patients and front line health and social care staff,” she said.
Caroline Dinenage was re-elected to chair the Culture, Media and Sports Committee, having first been elected to lead the group in May 2023. The Conservative MP was previously digital and culture minister from February 2020 to September 2021 under Boris Johnson.
“These sectors are our global economic super-power, they have remarkable abilities to drive regeneration and bring communities together,” she said.
“I will continue to work cross-party to ensure the government doesn’t take them for granted and they continue to fire on all cylinders.”
Chair positions confirmed this week also include Alistair Carmichael, a Liberal Democrat MP who spent two years as Scotland secretary during the coalition government, who will chair the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee; and Welsh Labour Party Tonia Antoniazzi, who will lead the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee.
Ruth Jones, who has spent the last four years as shadow environment minister, will chair the Welsh Affairs Committee; and Bob Blackman, the current chair of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs, will head up the Backbench Business Committee.
Scottish Liberal Democrat MP Jamie Stone will lead the Petitions Committee, which considers paper and e-petitions submitted to parliament.