Rachel Reeves has appointed a labour market expert who has repeatedly called for better pay and conditions in key sectors, such as social care, to reduce the UK’s reliance on migrant workers as her new chief economic adviser.
Prof Brian Bell, who chairs the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), which advises the government, has been announced as the new chief economic adviser in the Treasury – a senior civil service role.
He will take up the post just as the UK economy is adjusting to a plunge in net migration, which fell by more than two-thirds, to 204,000, in the year to June 2025.
Some economists have predicted a further decline, towards zero net migration – but Bell rejects that forecast, expecting it to bounce back towards 300,000 a year by the end of the decade.
A professor of economics at King’s College London, Bell has used his role on the MAC to make the point that the “skills shortages” bemoaned by UK employers may often reflect the failure to offer good enough terms and conditions to domestic workers.
In its 2024 annual report, after Labour came to power, the MAC welcomed the new government’s focus on skills policy as it sought to reduce net migration.
But it also warned: “Many sectors exhibit high levels of immigration not just due to skills shortages but as a result of poor pay and working conditions which cause low engagement from the domestic workforce.”
It added: “The domestic workforce with relevant skills may be unwilling to supply their labour for the wage and working conditions on offer from employers.”
Bell has also argued stridently for better pay in social care. In an interview with the Guardian in 2023, when the Conservatives were still in power, he accused ministers of having “no interest” in the conditions faced by workers in the sector.
“They may not say it explicitly, but I think they basically believe that care workers should be paid less than people who stack shelves for Aldi – because that’s what their policy is,” he said, accusing the government of relying on immigration as a “crutch”.
Bell added: “We’re not doing anything on the wages front, and until we do that, then we are accepting that exploitation as part of the way that we’re going to pay for social care: and that just seems appalling.”
Labour is establishing a new negotiating body for social care, which aims to agree a fair pay agreement that will become the statutory minimum across the sector. But it is not due to come into force until 2028, and sector experts have said the £500m set aside to pay for it will not be sufficient. The wider issue of how to fund social care is being reviewed by the cross-bench peer Louise Casey, who is not expected to report until the run-up to the next general election.
Speaking on a panel at the Bristol festival of economics last year, Bell argued that rapid increases in the number of people coming into the country often reflect wider policy challenges.
“It’s almost always that where there’s big immigration numbers, the problem is somewhere else in government not addressing an underlying problem,” he said.
Bell’s appointment comes amid a wider refresh of the chancellor’s advisers. Neil Amin-Smith, once the violinist for the pop band Clean Bandit and now an economist, was recently made chair of her council of economic advisers, which is made up of political appointees rather than civil servants.
Reeves said: “Through stability, investment and reform, this government has the right plan for our economy and the appointment of Prof Brian Bell will strengthen our economic leadership as we deliver for working people.”
