Emma Reynolds (pictured) has been appointed as City minister, six months after Labour’s election victory in July.
Reynolds succeeds Tulip Siddiq, who resigned from her post after being faced with questions regarding her links to an alleged corruption probe into her family in Bangladesh.
Reynolds’ appointment follows her work leading the government’s pension reform efforts. In her previous role, she was tasked with driving investment from pension funds into British businesses and reinvigorating the London Stock Exchange.
Born in Staffordshire and educated at Oxford, Reynolds brings both political and private sector experience to the role. Her early career included time as a Brussels lobbyist before entering Parliament in 2010 as the Labour MP for Wolverhampton North East. She served as a shadow junior foreign office minister under Ed Miliband but resigned following Jeremy Corbyn’s election as party leader.
After losing her seat in the 2019 general election, Reynolds became managing director of policy at TheCityUK, a trade body representing the financial services sector. In this role, she worked closely with industry leaders on issues such as pension reform and public market revitalization.
She returned to Parliament in 2024, winning the Wycombe seat and securing a place in Labour’s government.
“As a former colleague, we know that she will make a significant impact in her new role,” said Miles Celic, chief executive of TheCityUK. “We look forward to engaging with her and her team to support a review of pensions and their reform.”
During her tenure overseeing pension reforms, Reynolds focused on encouraging greater investment from retirement funds into UK businesses.
“I have two main objectives, which are very simple to explain, but admittedly more complicated to deliver,” Reynolds said in a speech at the London Stock Exchange in September. “First, to increase pension investment into UK productive assets, supporting our capital markets as they in turn support our firms to grow and expand and drive growth and jobs across the country.”
“Second, at the same time to improve the retirement outcomes of future pensioners, which everyone in this room and many millions of savers have a stake in,” she added.
With a record of championing financial services reform and a strong relationship with the sector, Reynolds’ appointment is expected to bring focus and momentum to Labour’s agenda in the Square Mile.
