Amber Rudd appointed as Work and Pensions Secretary

Prime Minister Theresa May has appointed Amber Rudd, former Home Secretary, as the new Work and Pensions Secretary, replacing Esther McVey.

The MP for Hastings and Rye is back in the Cabinet as the third Secretary of State for Work and Pensions under Theresa May.

Confirming the appointment, the Prime Minister's Office tweeted: "The Queen has been pleased to approve the appointment of Rt Hon Amber Rudd MP to be Secretary of State for Work and Pensions."

Rudd resigned from as Home Secretary in April after "misleading MPs" over the Windrush Scandal, spending two years in the role.

She was also Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change between 2015-16.

Rudd will take on a number of key pension policy areas, alongside the controversial roll out of Universal Credit, including the pensions dashboard and defined benefit consolidation.

Yesterday, McVey handed in her resignation over Theresa May’s Brexit deal, writing the Prime Minister to say the deal “did not honour the results of the referendum” and therefore she “cannot defend the deal”.

McVey, elected as the MP for Tatton in 2017, was appointed Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on 8 January 2018. She preceded David Gauke who spent six months in the role.

Yesterday, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) leadership was been described “as stable as a mobile home in a hurricane” by Quilter head of retirement policy, Jon Greer.

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