Ten Things To Know About Balls

Ed Balls is a high-flyer in the Treasury and his name seems to be cropping up everywhere at present. Here are ten things you should know about how he affects your money.

Ed Balls is the minister with responsibility for the financial services sector. Prior to becoming an MP he was described as 'the most powerful unelected person in Britain', because of his closeness to Gordon Brown. Recently his name has been in the papers quite a bit, so here are ten things you should know about him.

1. He works on the Finance Bill

Balls works with another Treasury minister, Paymaster General Dawn Primarolo, on the Finance Bill. This bill is introduced shortly after each Budget to bring most of the government's tax proposals into law. (The rest come into effect immediately after the Budget speech is made.)

We could try and guess what Balls and crew will be putting into the next one, but one civil servant once told me that Budget ideas are agreed, changed and changed back again constantly, and some decisions on taxation often aren't made until the last few hours before the Budget speech!

2. Does he back the euro?

He is presumably pro-Euro, as he has responsibilities for EMU preparations. We haven't heard much about this though, so presumably it's on the backburner.

3. He's an ISA champion

Balls has been making a few speeches recently about ISAs. He wants to make them a little easier to understand by having cash and shares ISAs, rather than maxi- and mini-ISAs. He's also thinking about letting people transfer savings in cash ISAs to shares ISAs. See More Changes To ISAs for further information.

See some cash ISAs and shares ISAs.

4. He's probing the travel insurance industry

Balls recently quoted figures from Which? about travel insurance sold by travel agents. The report found that only 35% of travel agents asked medical questions (compared to 81% of banks and insurers), 19% explained what the policy covered (compared to 81% of banks and insurers) and 0% explained what the policy did not cover (compared to 56% of banks and insurers). Hence, Balls has announced an inquiry into the sale of travel insurance sold by travel agents. You can read more in Don't Trust That Travel Agent!

5. He's anti US regulations

Who here has had their jobs made more difficult because of SOX (or Sarbox, or Sarbanes-Oxley, or whatever your employer calls it!)? This heavy-handed US regulation has affected many companies over here in the UK, and it's perhaps a fear of this spreading that has led to Balls' announcement this week of an 'exchanges and clearing houses bill', which will give the FSA the power to protect the London Stock Exchange from US-style regulation if it's bought by a US market, such as Nasdaq.

6. A yes man, a party loyalist or simple coincidence?

He's rather a yes man. Or he's loyal to his party. Or he always happens to agree with everything they say. One of those. The thing is, according to TheyWorkForYou he's attended 88 Commons votes, and according to the Public Whip he's always voted with his party: the Labour Party.

He's voted with the government on money issues such as: tax credits, NHS finance, council tax revaluations, Railtrack and climate change. We'll have no surprises from Ed Balls here.

7. He's a big talker. (Well, he is a politician!)

According to TheyWorkForYou, he has spoken in 27 debates this year, which is above average. He has also used three-word alliterative phrases, like 'she sells seashells' 63 times in debates! Even so, this is apparently below average for MPs. It's possible this means that he often doesn't prepare what he's going to say in his speeches in great detail.

8. More debt for all!

He has a responsibility to support the Chancellor on economic policy issues. This means he'll consider debt, savings and house prices. If he thinks the economy should grow faster, he'll advise the Chancellor to encourage us to take on more debt - for better or worse! Conversely, if he wants the economy to slow down, he'll advise the Chancellor to encourage us to spend less and save more...Perhaps with better ISA rules? (See point three.)

9. Expenses

According to TheyWorkForYou, in the Financial Year ending in April 2006, Ed Balls claimed £144,197 in expenses! Most of us would struggle to rack up such a figure and our employers would be rather hesitant to pay them too. Keep your expenses down by finding cheaper products! Compare mortgages, utility prices, and car and household insurance prices.

10. Need a builder? Balls is your man!

I doubt many economic ministers can claim that they used to write a regular column for Building Magazine. Ed Balls can though. Most likely, as the Treasury's liaison between the world's financial centres and Britain's construction industry, he usually wrote about housing prices, interest rates, inflation and the public finance initiative. However, he did once squeeze in a tip for finding an architect for a mid-size extension:

We started planning our home improvements and&doubts kept us frozen for a good 18 months. Until that is - and quite by chance - we came across an advert in the Yellow Pages for the RIBA's find-an-architect service.

One call and we were off. We expressed our preference for a local architect who would come up with something modern. The RIBA adviser rang back a day later with six suggestions. And that was how we teamed up with the brilliant and creative Leeds-based Irena Bauman and her husband Maurice Lyons.

So there you have it. Ten things to know about Balls and one home-improvement tip.

> Inflation is on the up, so Balls would probably like us to save more and spend less. Why not oblige him by opening a top savings account?