Ed Balls

The Shadow Chancellor is an experienced politician having worked as a special adviser and minister through various governments. Like Gordon Brown before him, he seeks an active role in social policy to tie to his economic brief, but doesn’t always get his way. His stock amongst vice chancellors rose in recent months as he attempted to block Ed Miliband’s £6,000 fee policy, and he clearly played a big part in ultimately ensuring that the policy was fully costed. Balls has also made encouraging signs that he shares his former boss Gordon Brown’s passion for science which is something they both worked on together in the Treasury. Expect him to be a powerful and proactive Chancellor of the Exchequer should Labour win the coming General Election.