Mel Stride has been appointed as financial secretary to the Treasury, with responsibility for charity policy, as part of the Prime Minister's reshuffle following the election.
Central Devon MP Stride was appointed last night to replace Jane Ellison, who had been financial secretary to the treasury for just under a year but lost her Battersea seat to the Labour candidate and disability rights campaigner Marsha de Cordova last week.
Stride, who was previously a government whip, has shown interested in military charities, museums and heritage organisations in the past.
He is a qualified tour guide entitled to guide a number of national sites including The British Museum, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, Tate Britain, Windsor Castle and Stonehenge.
Caron Bradshaw, chief executive of Charity Finance Group (CFG), outlined some issues her organisation planned to discuss with Stride.
She said: “Charities are facing a number of tax pressures including irrecoverable VAT, increasing Insurance Premium Tax and rising business rates as well as unnecessary red tape through the Making Tax Digital changes.
“We will be urging the new financial secretary to make supporting the good work of charities a priority, something for which there is cross-party support. If the government can do this, then we can unlock resources for charities which can go towards helping beneficiaries.”
The minister for civil society, Rob Wilson, also lost his seat in the election but his replacement has not been announced yet.
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