After the election brought an 80-seat majority for the Conservatives. PM Boris Johnson has left most of his Cabinet unchanged with Sajid Javid reconfirmed at number 11
Johnson has confirmed that a more significant cabinet reshuffle will take place after the UK leaves the EU on 31 January 2019.
The Brexit Withdrawal Bill will be put back to parliament this week, with a debate scheduled for Friday, following the Queen's Speech on Thursday 19 December.
Nicky Morgan has been reappointed as culture secretary, although she resigned as an MP before the election. She has now been made a life peer in the House of Lords and can take up the post, but government sources have indicated that this is a temporary measure to maintain consistency through to a post-Brexit environment.
On Twitter, Morgan said she was ‘delighted to continue as @DCMS Secretary of State as the PM focuses on delivering our mandate in the vital first weeks of this new Government’.
Before she resigned as an MP, strong remain supporter Morgan was chair of the influential Treasury Committee.
There are so far no changes at the Treasury with Chancellor Sajid Javid back in the top seat at the Treasury.
The Conservatives set out a fairly limited number of tax pledges in its Tory manifesto (see details below), with commitment to a triple lock on income tax, national insurance contributions (NICs) and VAT which means there would be no tax hikes in this area. In the run-up to the election, the Institute of Fiscal Studies warned some some of the Conservatives' more ambitious manifesto pledges would require additional tax.
Clamping down on tax avoidance and evasion is another plank of tax policy, while post-Brexit support will require additional funding.
Another key appointment was Simon Hart as Welsh secretary, replacing Alun Cairns. He was previously parliamentary secretary (minister for implementation) at the Cabinet Office. He was elected Conservative MP for Carmarthen West & South Pembrokeshire in May 2010. In the previous parliament he was a member of the Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee, Welsh Affairs Select Committee and Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee.
Conservative tax pledges - manifesto 2019
| Policy | Conservatives |
| Personal tax | Triple lock on income tax, NICs and VAT – rates frozen |
| Employment taxes/NICs | Raise national insurance threshold to £9,500 in 2020 (currently £8,632) |
| IR35 | Review IR35 |
| IHT | No change |
| VAT | Remove VAT from sanitary products |
| Corporation tax (CT) | Retain 19% rate, dropped 17% cut |
| Digital services tax | Implement digital services tax. |
| Property tax (SDLT) | Stamp duty surcharge on non-UK |
| resident buyers | |
| Business tax reliefs | Review entrepreneur’s relief |
| Capital gains tax (CGT) | no change |
| Research & development (R&D) | Increase tax credit rate to 13% and review definition of R&D |
| Tax avoidance | Set out a new anti-tax avoidance and evasion law doubling maximum prison sentence to 14 years |
| Brexit | Meet 31 January 2020 exit date |
| Student loans | Review interest rates on loan repayments |
| Business rates | Reduce business rates and business rates relief for music venues and cinemas |
Source: Conservative party manifesto